Martin St. Louis Takes Indefinite Leave of Absence From Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens headed out west to begin a five game road trip last night. The first of those games was in Calgary against the Flames.

Both teams were sellers ahead of the trade deadline, with Sean Monahan and Jake Allen leaving the Canadiens but they did not sell nearly as much as the Flames. Calgary shipped out veterans Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov since the beginning of this season.

The Canadiens were also without injured players Kirby Dach and Christian Dvorak as they set out on the road trip. That was not a surprise as they have each been injured since a while. There was a pretty shocking announcement before puck drop though.

The Canadiens announced yesterday evening that head coach Martin St. Louis would be away from the club as he is taking a leave of absence from his duties.

The team made a very short statement, releasing only that St. Louis is away for family reasons. It was also mentioned he had travelled to Calgary with the team and then left to join his family who live on the east coast of the United States. So, obviously, it was not a planned event.

David Savard was interviewed in french in the first intermission and said the team was hoping to get a win for their coaches son. St. Louis has three young sons who all, not surprisingly, play hockey at a high level.

It is not known how long St. Louis will be away from the team. Trevor Letowski has stepped in to fill the role as head coach in the absence of the man who usually fills the role.

Hopefully, whatever situation Martin St. Louis and his family are dealing with is nothing too serious, and everyone is okay. Here's hoping the head coach can return to his duties in the near future.