The Montreal Canadiens may be taking on Martin St-Louis' former team in the first round of the playoffs, but the coach has no mixed loyalties.
Montreal Canadiens’ coach Martin St-Louis has always been a competitive man; it didn’t start when he stepped behind the bench. He was the same when he played for the Tampa Bay Lightning and later for the New York Rangers. As the start of the series against the Bolts nears, the bench boss was asked what he learned from his opponent, Jon Cooper, who was his coach at the tail end of his time in Florida, and he replied:
What I learned from Coop…probably the way he communicates, I would say. Yeah.
Clearly, St. Louis is not in a generous mood and didn’t want to shower his rival with praise even if he is the longest tenured coach in the league and has led the Lightning to two Stanley Cups and a Conference Final since he was appointed all the way back in 2012-13. In 1043 games, the pilot has a 622-332-89 and a .639 points percentage, and he’s in the conversation for the Jack Adams Trophy this season, after guiding his team to fifth place in the league despite needing to compete without a lot of his key players throughout the regular season.
It’s no time for sentiments for the Habs coach, and when he was asked how he felt taking on a team that retired his jersey number because he marked its history, he replied:
Honestly, I feel so far removed from that; it’s my fourth year now, and I've gone to the building plenty of times. I think the first time I went, yeah, it was a little weird, but I’m so far removed from that, I don’t have any emotion attached to the Lightning right now. Zero.
Despite spending 13 of his 16 years in the NHL playing for the Lightning and putting up 953 points in 972 games in Florida, the bench boss has no mixed loyalties. The franchise might have retired his number in January 2017, not even two years after he hung up his skates, but he has turned the page.
Perhaps the fact that his stay in Tampa Bay didn’t end in the best way even serves as motivation. Back then, in the run-up to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Steve Yzerman, who was the Lightning’s and Team Canada’s GM, had initially snubbed St-Louis, the captain of his own team, when picking players for the national team roster. The right winger eventually made the team, thanks to teammate Steven Stamkos’ injury, but later that season, he demanded a trade and was moved to the Rangers. Of course, there’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then, and Yzerman is long gone, but that memory could still be used as a motivator.
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