Montreal Canadiens: Where Martin St. Louis Can Grow As A Coach

Martin St. Louis is about to enter his third season as Head Coach of the Montreal Canadiens, as prestigious a position there is in Quebec. So far, fans have been pleased with the job he’s done, but that isn’t to say there isn’t more room for him to grow. After all, he’s still very new to the profession and can stand to learn a lot as he continues to coach.

That’s why I view this as an important year for him. Not in a “make or break” kind of way that suggests he’s on the hot seat, but rather, this could be a year in which he stands to learn the most. Growth from him as the coach may not be the top priority in the Canadiens organization, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Previously, expectations for St. Louis and the Canadiens were… practically non-existent, with them in the midst of a rebuild. Currently, they seem to still be there, but now with the expectation of steady improvement year after year. That means some form of expectations are going to be lofted onto St. Louis’ plate for the first time, and It’s his job to meet them as best he can.

So, what exactly does growth look like? And how do St. Louis and the Canadiens achieve it? Well, player development is a big part of it, as the Canadiens future success hinges on their young nucleus of talent continuing to grow and improve. This is not exclusive to Juraj Slafkovsky, but he may be the most important name there. Fans want him to show the same growth Cole Caufield had with St. Louis behind the bench.

This means putting them in positions to thrive, giving them the opportunity and the feeling of being able to play freely without fearing repercussions for inevitable mistakes. It also means letting different players play to their strengths. We’ve seen the effect he’s had on Caufield, but you can’t teach Slafkovsky to play the same way for obvious reasons.

Another aspect is trying different things, experimenting and finding multiple things that could work for you at any given moment. This could include lineups, set plays, matchups and so on and so forth. Sooner or later, the Canadiens will have their sights set on the playoffs, and these areas will only become more critical.

This could mean possibly splitting up Caufield and Nick Suzuki and seeing if perhaps you can create a formidable 200-foot second line capable of matching up with other team’s top lines. Then, in certain situations, you could even stack the top line from time to time just to see if you could strike offensively. The Leafs and a few other teams do this occasionally, with great success.

But perhaps the most desired area of growth from St. Louis would be turning special teams into an asset. Currently, the Canadiens’ PK and PP are both really poor and have been for quite some time. St. Louis being able to fix this would certainly go a long way.

Now, of course, St. Louis isn’t entirely responsible for the way the special teams have been run or their lack of success, but the hope would be he could fix at least one of these. The sad truth right now is it feels as though taking a penalty against the Habs is a viable strategy to kill two minutes of clock late in the game. That has to change; ideally, St. Louis can help. So far, he hasn’t. Somehow, someway, that needs to change.

St. Louis has done an excellent job thus far, and the Canadiens and their fans have to be extremely happy with him. Let me be clear: this is not an article suggesting anything different. He’s been fantastic. But, as he continues to develop as a coach, this is where I see the biggest areas for potential growth. I have the utmost confidence he can deliver here as well.

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