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Montreal Canadiens: Grading Martin St. Louis a Year Later

By Ryan Praught

MONTREAL, QUEBEC - JULY 07: Head coach Martin St. Louis of the Montreal Canadiens on stage during Round One of the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bell Centre on July 07, 2022 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC - JULY 07: Head coach Martin St. Louis of the Montreal Canadiens on stage during Round One of the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bell Centre on July 07, 2022 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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How does Martin St. Louis stack up against other NHL coaches?

ST PAUL, MN - NOVEMBER 01: Head coach Martin St. Louis of the Montreal Canadiens looks on against the Minnesota Wild in the third period of the game at Xcel Energy Center on November 1, 2022 in St Paul, Minnesota. The Wild defeated the Canadiens 4-1. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
ST PAUL, MN – NOVEMBER 01: Head coach Martin St. Louis of the Montreal Canadiens looks on against the Minnesota Wild in the third period of the game at Xcel Energy Center on November 1, 2022 in St Paul, Minnesota. The Wild defeated the Canadiens 4-1. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images) /

In his 88 games behind the bench as Head Coach of the Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis has been a welcomed sight for sore eyes. The team was spiraling in a big way when he took over, and he helped get them back on track, albeit still losing more than their fair share of games. But considering the fact the Canadiens have suffered more injuries than anyone else over the last two years, the roster is already one of the weaker ones in the league, and he had virtually no prior coaching experience, it really isn’t that surprising. It’s hard to envision a more seasoned coach doing much better.

Take Ottawa, for example, a team with a much better roster, specifically in their top-six forward core. They have much higher expectations than the Canadiens, so much so that the GM declared their rebuild over before the beginning of the 2021-22 season. They finished that year 26th in the NHL and missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year. Despite adding even more talent this season, they still find themselves outside the playoffs, just seven points ahead of the rebuilding Habs.

The Canadiens are about where you would expect them to be, at or near the bottom in pretty much every statistical category. Obviously, that is a less-than-ideal scenario, but again, look at what St. Louis has to work with. This team isn’t horrible, just undermanned, and they are a far cry from the Claude Julien led teams of just a few years ago. Despite that, they’ve remained competitive and won their fair share of games. No one would fault him, or management for that matter, if they finished dead last, and while they aren’t competing for a playoff spot, they are playing good hockey, and St. Louis deserves credit for that.

It will be really fascinating to see where the team can go moving forward as the influx of talent becomes more evident, and St. Louis and the rest of his coaching staff gain more experience. Looking at the job Jeff Saturday did in a similar situation in the NFL, it’s clear this is going a lot better for Montreal than it otherwise could have. Pulling someone who quite literally had never coached before, even if they were a Hall of Famer as a player, can have disastrous results, but not for St. Louis.

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