Martin St. Louis on mission to 'inspire' Canadiens as new head coach

Doubted since his earliest days in the game, Martin St. Louis once again heads into the unknown with skeptics at his heels.

The Hall of Famer from Laval, Que., whose trophy case is well-stocked after 16 years in the NHL, was officially introduced as the interim head coach of the Montreal Canadiens Thursday. Joining the organization with a coaching resume that includes only a few years on the bench at the peewee level, he does so amid questions of whether he’ll be able to successfully navigate such a hefty jump.

“Well, if (there’s) anything this team needs right now, it’s to have fun. I know when they were peewees, they had a lot of fun. So, you know, I’m probably the most qualified guy right now,” St. Louis joked Thursday when asked about his bench experience. “You know, people are entitled to their opinion. For me, all that stuff, as an athlete, as a human, all that stuff that people want to doubt or talk and say and comment, to me it’s all noise.

“It’s always been noise, and I’ve always been a guy that blocks the noise and gets after it. And that’s what I intend to do. It doesn’t matter what I say, what experience I had, I’m still going to get judged on how I perform and how I can help this team.”

Although St. Louis’ accomplishments in the coaching ranks are slim, his success on the ice is undeniable. Undrafted and given little chance to succeed as he first broke into the league, the winger went on to amass two scoring titles, nods as the league’s MVP by both the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association and his fellow players, three Lady Byng trophies and a Stanley Cup.

Consistent through all of that was the relentless fire St. Louis came to be known for — a steely determination he hopes to now instill in his players.

“I think you have to inspire them a little bit, you’ve got to motivate them,” he said of how he’ll do that. “I think, at the end of the day, this is the National Hockey League. And every game they should put their best foot forward to be as productive as they can to help the team win. I think for me right now it’s getting them excited to play hockey again. They’ve gone through some tough times this year — obviously with injuries, COVID — but my job coming in is just inspire them. And I think it’s one of my strong suits.”

There’s no question the Canadiens are in dire need of inspiration. After a thrilling run to the Stanley Cup Final just last year, Montreal has trudged through a woeful 2021-22 season, sitting with just eight wins through 45 games, dead last in the league by a fair margin. Canadiens GM Kent Hughes made clear Thursday that the team’s focus has shifted to the long-term development of their key players, with the 2022 post-season well out of their sights.

“The decision for a coach was more about the qualities of a coach that we were looking for and the development of our hockey players than it was about experience or winning the next hockey game,” Hughes said. “The culture of the team for us — I don’t want to say we’re trying to reset the culture, we’re trying to establish the culture that we would like to see. And he’s the embodiment of it. I saw him play when he was in (U18 hockey), I heard everybody say he couldn’t do it. I saw him play in Hawkesbury, I saw him play at UVM. He just kept getting ‘No.’ As his mom said, ‘You show them.’ He always did.

“So, it’s time for our team right now to start showing the hockey community, the fans of the Montreal Canadiens, that, you know, we’re not going to roll over here.”

While St. Louis didn’t get into specifics regarding how exactly he plans to reconfigure the Canadiens to begin doing that, he did shed light on his coaching philosophy, particularly his embrace of teams playing within ‘concepts’ rather than restrictive systems.

“(In) systems, I feel like you box players in, to be in a certain spot, and sometimes you don’t allow them to make reads because of it,” St. Louis explained. “A concept is more playing with a little more instinct, with ideas of how we want to be as a team. … I was a great player when I was allowed to make reads, because the best players make the best reads. But if you take the reads out of the equation, those best players become average.

“So I want to make sure that I allow my best players to make reads, and I’d rather them make a bad one than not making a read at all.”

St. Louis will get his first opportunity to put his plans into action Thursday night, when he’ll take the bench for the Canadiens’ game against the Washington Capitals.

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