Do you remember how the Olympics affected head coach Martin St-Louis' career?

With the broadcasting of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony yesterday, it's time to take a look at current and former Habs at the games. Montreal Canadiens' head coach Martin St-Louis had to fight tooth and nail to get in the NHL. He was never drafted but was given a chance by the Calgary Flames. In his two seasons in the organization, he was considered a fringe NHLer. Then, he joined the Tampa Bay Lightning and blossomed into not only a full-time NHL player, but a star.

The five-foot-eight right winger spent 13 seasons with the Bolts, winning the Stanley Cup once and playing an integral part in the team's success with teammates Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards. A few years later they welcomed Steven Stamkos to the team and helped make him the player he is today.

For a good while, it seemed like St-Louis would finish his career in Tampa Bay, but as the country readied for the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi, things changed. The Lightning's GM Steve Yzerman was also Team Canada's GM and it was up to him to select the Olympic roster.

Back then, Canada really had an embarrassment of riches up front and some difficult calls had to be made. Young Sidney Crosby, Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, John Tavares, Jonathan Toews and 24-year-old teammate Steven Stamkos made the cut, but St-Louis, at 38 years old, was left off the squad. Yzerman had decided the captain of his NHL team would not be going to Sochi.

However, one man's loss is another one's gain and when Stamkos broke his leg in November 2013, the GM had another chance to include the diminutive winger and that time, he added St-Louis to his roster, but the damage had been done. 

At the closing ceremony,  former Lightning teammate goalie Mike Smith decided St-Louis would be able to see everything clearly and he made him ride on his shoulder, a picture which has stayed in many people's mind. 

Less than two weeks after coming back from the Olympics with a gold medal around his neck, St-Louis was traded to the New York Rangers for their captain Ryan Callahan, a 2015 first-round pick and a conditional 2014 second-round pick. The Lightning's captain had asked to be traded and he had told Yzerman he wanted to go to the Rangers, the only side he would lift is no-trade clause for.

The Olympic snub was never confirmed by St-Louis as the reason why he felt it was time to move on, but for anyone watching the situation from afar, it looked like the obvious reason. 

This off-season, it was Stamkos' turn to leave Tampa Bay as he couldn't reach a contract agreement with Julien BriseBois. Now that his former teammate is a Nashville Predator, St-Louis believes he'll be glad to have experienced something else. The Canadiens' bench boss would know having been there himself.