Martin St. Louis wiil remain coach of the Montreal Canadiens next season, the team announced Wednesday.
“We are happy to officially appoint Martin as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens,” general manager Kent Hughes said. “Martin is a proven leader, a great communicator with a deep understanding of and passion for the game of hockey. His arrival brought a renewed energy to our group, and we look forward to him returning behind the bench to continue guiding our team for the foreseeable future.”
Montreal was 14-19-4 under St. Louis, who replaced Dominique Ducharme as coach Feb. 9 after the Canadiens won eight of their first 45 games (8-30-7). St. Louis’ only previous coaching experience was with his sons’ minor hockey teams.
“The mistakes you make behind the bench, sometimes you don’t know you’ve made them until after the game,” St. Louis told NHL.com’s Dave Stubbs last month. “You learn later that the decisions you thought were good ones weren’t actually great. You don’t know that … you get to reflect more. As a player, it was more the instant of the moment. It’s definitely different, but I’m learning.”
He played 1,134 NHL games as a forward with the Calgary Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers from 1998-2015 and had 1,033 points (391 goals, 642 assists). He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.
“During his short stint behind the bench last season, Martin showed he has the required qualities to lead the Canadiens in the right direction,” vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton said. “Despite difficult circumstances when he took over, he was able to bring a breath of fresh air to the locker room and the players benefited from it as much individually as they did collectively. Martin thinks the game at a high level, and we believe that he is the right person for this job.”
Cole Caufield scored 22 of his team-leading 23 goals and had 35 points in 37 games after St. Louis was hired; the rookie forward had eight points in 30 games under…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at "ice hockey" – Google News…