It's already been four years since the Montreal Canadiens hired coach Martin St-Louis, and one has to admit that the hire was a big success.
On February 9, 2022, Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton surprised the hockey world by hiring Martin St-Louis as the Montreal Canadiens head coach. It raised more than a few eyebrows to put an inexperienced coach in such a tough job. Some thought he would be out of his depth; others said he would never have gotten the job had it not been for the fact that he was French-speaking, but four years down the line, there aren’t many critics left.
After 340 games under the Laval native, the Canadiens have a 147-148-45 record, which is pretty darn good considering where they started from, but what’s even more impressive is looking at their points percentage throughout the years. In 2021-22, when he took over from Dominique Ducharme, he had a 14-19-4 record for a .432 points percentage. That number was a bit higher than the following year for two reasons: the rebuild hadn’t been started yet, meaning he could still rely on players like Tyler Toffoli (for a few days) and Artturi Lehkonen (for over a month), and a coaching change always gives a team a bump of energy.
If you look at the next four seasons, though, you can see the team’s record trending up. In 2022-23, they had a 31-45-6 record with a .415 points percentage; that’s when the Canadiens hit rock bottom. The following season, in 2023-24, they had a 30-36-16 record for a .463 points percentage. They had one fewer win, but a much lower number of regulation losses as well. Then, last season, they went 40-31-11 with a .555 points percentage, a tremendous improvement. Finally, this season, they are 32-17-8 for a .632 points percentage, well on their way to their best season under St-Louis.
There’s no denying that what the coach is doing is working, and perhaps his best quality is his ability to connect with players. He often says that a coach’s job is to sell his teachings to the players, and there’s no denying that he’s really good at that. Because he’s been in their shoes before, the players respect St-Louis and know that he knows what he’s talking about, even though he had never been an NHL coach before. Throughout his career, St-Louis was a student of the game; he admitted that he used to go to his coaches to ask why and to understand the reasons behind their teachings. Now, he’s treating his players like he would have wanted to be treated when he was a player, and it’s working.
It hasn’t necessarily been all smooth sailing; there have been some choppy waters over the years, but St-Louis has never lost the room, and it’s hard to imagine how he could. It’s often said that coaches are hired to be fired and their message has a shelf life, but that’s particularly true when coaches just try to get their players to follow their orders blindly, which is not what St-Louis is doing.
The coach didn’t panic last season when the Canadiens were desperately trying to qualify for the playoffs and kept failing to get the points they needed; he knew that the moment was big for his young players, and he was able to guide them through it.
The coach holds himself accountable, just like he holds his players accountable. Earlier this season, after the Canadiens were obliterated 7-2 by the Colorado Avalanche, St-Louis admitted the loss was on him because he had told his players to wait for the Avs players, letting them come at them, which was a big mistake. Two months later, when they faced Colorado again, the Habs were better prepared and posted a 7-3 win.
Under the magnifying glass that is the Montreal market, St-Louis is thriving because he has the confidence to stick to his guns for as long as he’s not proven wrong by what he sees on the ice.
The results are there for everyone to see, not only in the team’s results but also in the way the players have grown and improved under him. You’d have to be a pretty harsh critic not to admit that St-Louis’ hiring was a great one for the Canadiens.
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