Martin St Louis discusses his future with the Montreal Canadiens

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S. Harper
April 13, 2022 (11:19 PM)

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There's no doubt it's been a rough year for the Montreal Canadiens, after coming just 3 wins away from their 25th Stanley Cup, this season has definitely gone worse than anyone could have imagined.

However things aren't as bad as they seem, yes this is the worst season in the history of the Canadiens franchise, however the Canadiens made some moves of late that Habs fans are feeling hopeful about.

The Canadiens owner Geoff Molson let go of almost all upper management and brought in former New York Rangers GM Jeff Gorton as the Canadiens new Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, and Kent Hughes as the Canadiens new general manager replacing Marc Bergevin.

The biggest surprise was Martin St Louis as the Canadiens head coach. We're not surprised Dominique Ducharme was fired but the Media questioned the Canadiens decision to hire Martin St Louis over others who they felt were more qualified, like Habs Legend Patrick Roy or more experienced coaches like Guy Boucher and Bob Hartley.

However Martin St Louis was the best choice it seems, the Canadiens are playing over .500 hockey under St Louis, player like Jeff Petry, Nick Suzuki, Jake Evans, and most of all Cole Caufield seem to be rejuvenated under his coaching as well.

St Louis has brought fun back to Montreal and has fans and media now hoping that the Canadiens and St Louis can sign a new deal to bring St Louis back as the new Canadiens head coach and no longer interim.

St Louis was asked by the Montreal Gazette about his future

"Is my goal to be back next year? Yeah, absolutely," "I don't see many things why I wouldn't be back, but you never know."

When the interim head coach was asked about moving forward with the team, he said:

«With the guys, if I'm here next year, I don't feel I'm starting from scratch.»

When St Louis was asked after about why he said if instead of when, he said:

«Take whatever you want. If-slash-when.»

He was asked after practice today if he saw any scenario where he wouldn't be back with the Canadiens, which he responded:

«I don't think so,» he said. «I was brought in here to finish the season, so I'm going to focus on that. Is my goal to be back next year? Yeah, absolutely. I don't see many things why I wouldn't be back, but you never know. But if I'm visualizing myself six, seven months from now, I see myself behind the bench. Until everything is concrete and stuff I'm going to stay the course of what I'm doing.»

The Canadiens had 12-12-4 record since St Louis took over behind the bench, and under Ducharme the Habs had an ugly 8-30-7.

«Our goal's going to stay the same,» he said. «It's to keep evolving as a team. Keep building our brand, our game and do some individual coaching along the way and just try every game to be one step closer to what's next for us. And what's next for us is training camp next year.»

Credit:Montreal Gazette