The Montreal Canadiens have decided to pick up the team option on head coach Martin St. Louis’ contract.
The Canadiens announced on April 17 that the team has picked up the two-year option on St. Louis’ deal to remain the head coach in Montreal. St. Louis had just finished his second full season as Canadiens coach after being hired on February 9, 2022, replacing Dominique Ducharme as the interim head coach, and was promoted to full-time head coach on June 1, 2022.
St. Louis’ had one more year left on his deal, but the Canadiens have decided to pick up the option for two more seasons, leaving him to be under contract for three seasons.
“He doesn’t believe he has all the answers,” Montreal general manager Kent Hughes said. “He’s able to reflect on what he’s doing as a coach, what we need to do as a team to take input from the analytics group about where we appear to be deficient, at least what the data is saying, and then work to come up with solutions. And I think that’s true of our coaching staff, so that gives us reassurance that where we see issues, they’re bright and motivated and dedicated to fixing those.”
“There’s a lot to him, and I think he takes pride in the fact that he’s always getting better and we see that and we talk about it all the time and we’ve said it a number of times — he’s very impressive and he’s the right person for what we’re doing,” Canadiens executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton said. “And there’s not a day goes by where we’re not happy that he’s at the helm, that he’s out front. He’s the point person for our franchise and we’re pretty proud of that.”
The news comes a day after St. Louis’ year-end press conference where he expressed his interest in remaining as the Canadiens’ head coach for the foreseeable future.
Since taking over as head coach of Montreal, St. Louis is 75-100-26 as coach.
The Canadiens season ended on April 16 with a shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Montreal finished the year with a record of 30-36-16, which was good for 15th in the Eastern Conference as the Habs failed to make the playoffs.
Canadiens Fans Excited For Martin St. Louis To Be Back
Following the news that Martin St. Louis had his contract picked up, Canadiens fans were excited about the news as they felt like the coach had done a good job.
“Great news! Marty and the guys are gonna be cookin’ next season,” one fan wrote.
“Amazing!! Glad he’s staying,” another fan wrote.
Although the Canadiens haven’t made the playoffs with St. Louis as head coach, Montreal is a young team and Habs fans feel like he is the right man for the job.
“Cant wait to see Marty in the playoff,” a fan wrote.
“He needs to be back for the next 13 seasons, but good work anyway!,” another fan added.
Canadiens Enter Off-Season With Key Players Under Contract
Montreal enters the off-season with most of their key players under contract.
The Canadiens only have Tanner Pearson and Colin White as pending unrestricted free agents, while Arber Xhekaj and Jesse Ylonen are restricted free agents.
Montreal will also have two first-round picks in the 2024 NHL Draft, which the Canadiens can use to help improve their young core.
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