Habs Notebook: St. Louis Extended, Rocket Reinforcements, Canadiens Draft Lottery Chances

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Kent Hughes announced that the Canadiens have exercised the option on Martin St. Louis' contract extending it by two additional years. With one year already remaining on the head coach's contract, the move means that St. Louis's term will extend to June 30, 2027.

"He’s very impressive, he’s the right person for what we’re doing here, and there’s not a day goes by we’re not happy with him," said Jeff Gorton on St. Louis.

St. Louis was named the 32nd head coach in Canadiens franchise history on June 1, 2022. He has a record of 75-100-26 in 201 games behind the Montreal bench.

Kent Hughes said that he will begin meeting with the assistant coaches on Thursday regarding their contract situations. Hughes said that he doesn't feel that it's necessary to add an experienced coach to the staff.

The Canadiens have loaned defensemen Justin Barron, Logan Mailloux, and Jayden Struble to the Laval Rocket along with forward Joshua Roy. They will be available for Friday's game in Belleville.

Luke Tuch has been practicing with the Rocket and could make his AHL debut on Friday night after signing a two-year entry-level contract with the Canadiens and a one-way contract with the Laval Rocket.

Joshua Roy has recovered from his hand injury suffered on March 19th. Roy has been cleared to return to play.

Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Arber Xhekaj (shoulder), Kaiden Guhle (upper body)

With a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers in their final game of the season on Wednesday night, the Arizona Coyotes move into 27th place in the standings bumping the Canadiens to 28th place for the second consecutive season. Montreal will have the fifth-best odds in the NHL draft lottery.

The Laval Rocket will finish the AHL regular season with a home and home series with the Belleville Senators. The Rocket will be in Belleville on Friday night and return to host the Senators at Place Bell on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Belleville beat the Syracuse Crunch 2-1 in a shootout on Wednesday to move four points ahead of the Rocket for the final playoff spot in the North Division. Laval Must win both games and hope for some help. The Utica Comets trail the Rocket by one point with three games remaining on their schedule.

Watch for our post-game recaps for each Rocket game.

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Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky will be representing USA and Slovakia respectively at the 2024 IIHF World Championship in Prague, Czechia from May 10 to May 26.

Sam Montembeault and Mike Matheson declined invitations to represent Canada. Nick Suzuki has not yet made a decision about his participation in the tournament. Kaiden Guhle is also a possibility for Canada pending his injury recovery.

Nick Suzuki has been named the winner of the Molson Cup Player of the Year for the 2023-24 season.

Logan Mailloux has been named to the AHL All-Rookie Team for the 2023-24 season.

Nick Suzuki was selected as the team’s nominee for this year's King Clancy Memorial Trophy. This trophy is awarded by the NHL to the player who has had the most significant positive impact in his community

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