Martin St. Louis is back on an NHL bench, but with a different role this time around. Instead of playing as a right-wing forward, he’s now coach of a struggling Montréal Canadiens team looking to get back on the rails.
The Habs fired head coach Dominique Ducharme on Feb. 9 following a seven-game losing streak and a plummet to the bottom of the Eastern Conference. With the team since 2018, Ducharme’s exit is one of many changes that had to happen.
The selection of St. Louis as interim head coach will, if nothing else, raise the expectations for a winning culture in that Montréal locker room. The former Tampa Bay Lightning captain and franchise legend led by example for the entirety of his NHL career and consistently demanded greatness from himself and teammates.
A native of Laval, Quebec, St. Louis knows just how serious the Canadiens’ fan-base takes the success of their team –– they’ll let you know how they feel. After their storybook run to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, the Habs are now dead-last at 32nd in the league with 25 points.
With just 33 games left in the Canadiens’ 2021-2022 campaign, St. Louis doesn’t have the time to completely turn this team around into a postseason competitor, but it is enough time to lift the morale and change the mindset of some deflated Montréal players.
Although there’s the “interim” tag attached to his new title, St. Louis said he’s here to stay in his opening press conference on Feb. 10. The Hall of Fame inductee is ready to prove himself in the coaching seat after making a mark in NHL history throughout his professional career.
During his 16 years in the league, St. Louis lifted the Stanley Cup in 2004 with the Lightning, won four of the 18 NHL awards and garnered 1,033 points in his total 1,134 games played. He’s one of the most respected players in the sport whose gritty work ethic will hopefully rub off on his new squad.
The Canadiens are led in points by 22-year-old Nick Suzuki who has 28 (9 goals, 19 assists) so far. They’ve got a pretty young roster and talent in up-and-coming guys like Cole Caufield. Nonetheless, it’s hard to jumpstart an entire lineup into believing in themselves and each other again — St. Louis has a tall task at hand.
Montréal captured their first win with St. Louis at the helm in a 3-2 overtime victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night. The group needs to string together a cohesive 60 minutes and gain some confidence through their new leadership. We’ll see what the rest of the season holds for the Habs.
