The Montreal Canadiens were a lost team in February when Martin St. Louis was named its head coach. It was a surprise move, since he had no experience coaching at a high level.
But the former star winger and Hall of Fame inductee was able to breathe some life into a dormant on-ice product. The team began the season 8-30-7 under head coach Dominque Ducharme. He had just coached them to the Stanley Cup Final so firing him didn’t seem to be a solution to what ailed the Habs,
However, the team did immediately look much better under St. Louis. They lost his first three games but showed signs of life and were heading in the right direction.
Then, they surprising started winning. They went on a 9-3-3 run over a four week stretch and it was about the most unpredictable month of hockey any team played this season. This team was completely lost, allowing early goals and getting blown out on a nightly basis.
For them to turn it around and actually lose just three games in regulation over a 15 game stretch was impossible to see coming. St. Louis was given plenty of credit, as he unlocked the offensive potential of Cole Caufield and helped Nick Suzuki take his game to the next level.
It wasn’t all great under St. Louis, as the team would lose nine straight games in April to fall to last place in the NHL standings. Even with this included, the team was much improved under St. Louis, playing a higher tempo hockey and actually producing offence on a regular basis.
St. Louis joined the organization on an interim basis in February for the remainder of the season. He still hasn’t signed an extension that will keep him here through next season, but that appears to be coming very, very soon.
The @CanadiensMTL remain tight lipped, but we can expect Martin St Louis contract extension as Head Coach to be announced in the near future.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 25, 2022
According to Darren Dreger, the Hockey Insider for TSN, a deal for St. Louis is coming in the near future. Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes and St. Louis both appear interested in making a deal work so there is a very high likelihood it gets done. It’s really kind of curious that it hasn’t happened yet.
However, with Hughes busy scouting the CHL, and heading to Finland to watch the World Championships, perhaps he is just waiting for some time to meet face to face with St. Louis before working out a new contract.
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