Martin St. Louis officially named head coach of the Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens announced that Martin St. Louis will no longer wear the interim tag, and will return next season as head coach, signing a new deal to cement his role in the organization. He is officially the team’s 32nd head coach.

It is a three-year contract, going from the 2022-23 to 2024-25 season.

St. Louis joined the Canadiens last season, replacing Dominique Ducharme who only won eight of 45 games. When Martin St. Louis replaced Ducharme, the team’s fortunes turned around, with several players seeing immediate inflections in their production, most notably Cole Caufield and Jeff Petry. The mood also changed around the team, and despite remaining in last place in league standings, the players no longer seemed as miserable.

St. Louis managed a record of 14-19-4 in 37 games, despite most of it with a depleted roster after the trade deadline. The team’s success was not only about wins and losses and clearly this sample size convinced general manager Kent Hughes to continue on with the rookie head coach.

It was reported after the season that St. Louis was happy with the assistant coaches he worked with, so unless Hughes has other ideas, the rest of the bench is likely to return as well.