MONTREAL— When Lucas Condotta knocked his second shot into the Boston Bruins’ net, on his very first shift in the NHL, he became the ninth Montreal Canadien to score his first goal in the league this season.
When Mike Matheson took a tumble a period later, he became the 12th Canadien to get pulled from a game and dismissed with a season-ending injury.
That’s the team Martin St. Louis coached this season. A team that played nearly every single game with at least four rookies on its blue line and one that had only its captain play all 82. It was as inexperienced and raw as it gets to start and as black and blue and broken down as it possibly could be to finish.
To know St. Louis squeezed 31 wins out of the group and had it competing hard in so many other games—like this down-to-the-wire 5-4 loss to the best regular-season team in NHL history—is to know to what end he proved he’s the right man for the job he was hired to do.
Because St. Louis laid the foundation for the future success of the Canadiens.
This season was not about the results of the games. It was about individual development, growth of culture and style of play, and it was a success in all those ways—with the fifth-best odds in the NHL’s draft lottery and a 42-per cent chance of drafting in the top-five secured on the final night as a bonus—mostly thanks to him.
Before it all began, St. Louis expressed a sentiment, in a one-on-one interview with me for Sportsnet, that I think epitomized how invested he was in notching those achievements.
“I’m not here because I need this,” he said, “I’m here because I love it.”
The 46-year-old let his players feel that on a daily basis and, ultimately, earned their respect and trust in a way that carries this team forward, even if it’s just by a baby step in the grand scheme of things.
“I just feel like the group believed in how we wanted to do things,” St. Louis said. “I think it showed throughout the season, even with the turnover of players who were actually in the lineup, and I think you just carry that into the following year. Who knows what our roster is going to look like? But I know there will be plenty of guys who can help me sell what you’re doing here.”
That belief was cultivated by St. Louis and his dedicated coaching staff. It was built by forging what he referred to as “real” relationships, with hard truths shared both ways, with honesty always leading and with purpose and intention of improving.
The players benefited and so many of them grew from the process.
Earlier this week, when I asked Arber Xhekaj what he took from working with St. Louis, he responded, “Everything.”
“Marty’s probably the smartest guy I’ve ever talked to in hockey and everyone in that locker room will say so,” Xhekaj added.
At one point or another, all 38 other players to play under St. Louis expressed something of that nature.
Even Condotta, who spent just one night under the coach’s watch, could attest to his impact on the Canadiens.
“Hall of Fame career,” he said. “Great coach, great person, and the guys respect him and want to work for him. And that’s what you want out of a coach, so it’s great to see.”
David Savard, who received the Jacques Beauchamp Award in recognition of his standing as the player to play the most prominent role without any prior commendation, was referred to many times by St. Louis as an extension of the coaching staff.
On Thursday, Savard said, “Martin has seen everything in the hockey world, and he knows how to act with the players. It’s as if his relationship with us is not one of a coach with his players. He speaks to us as if he was still a player. He asks our opinions on what we see on certain plays, and it leads to discussions that help us become better players.”
It also helped St. Louis become a better coach.
Navigating the most laborious part of the schedule—in December, when the Canadiens appeared as though they wouldn’t win another game this season—helped him grow as well.
“It’s impossible that over an 82-game season you’re not going to be tested in one way or another,” St. Louis said. “And it takes that. If you’re never tested, it’s hard to grow as a person or player or whatever. And you never know when it’s coming. Sometimes you see it coming, but sometimes you don’t see it coming. I always say you can’t buy experience, so for me I was happy I was tested this year.”
The Canadiens should be most happy he passed.
A full season into their rebuild, they’ve evolved.
“I think next year we’ll be further along,” St. Louis said. “How fast we get to that? I don’t know. But for me it’s more like, when do we flip from how long it’s going to take to how far we can take it? I don’t know when it’s going to turn, but I’m looking forward to that day.”
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