The NHL has announced the top three vote-getters for its coach of the year trophy, the Jack Adams Award. Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis is one of the finalists.
The Canadiens were just eliminated from the playoffs after a five-game series with the Washington Capitals (who were led by another of the finalists for this award, Washington’s Spencer Carbery). That the Canadiens earned a berth to play that series as the youngest ever playoff team was likely the biggest factor in St-Louis earning the nomination.
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 on the strengths of his playing career, St-Louis began his NHL coaching tenure on February 9, 2022 when he took over the Canadiens mid-season from Dominique Ducharme. Seeing the team finish last in the league in his first year and fifth from the bottom in each of the next two, the young team became a more competitive group in 2024-25 with several of the prospects those difficult years brought to the organization. Montreal ended the season on a 26-14-8 run coming out of the Christmas break, the ninth-best record in the NHL over the unofficial second half of the season.
St-Louis has two years remaining on a contract extension signed at the end of the 2023-24 campaign. After the surprise of a playoff appearance this year, that will now be the expectation going forward, with a longer stay in 2026.
He is only the sixth Canadiens coach to be nominated for the award since it was established in 1973-74, joining Guy Carbonneau, Alain Vigneault, Pat Burns, Jean Perron, and Scotty Bowman. Bowman and Burns were the only winners. St-Louis is also the first winner of the Hart Trophy to ever be nominated for the Jack Adams.
The other nominee was Winnipeg’s Scott Arniel.
This won’t be the only individual award a member of the Canadiens will be in the running for this year. The Calder Trophy finalists will be announced on Monday, and Lane Hutson will be one of the top three rookies included in the list.
