Canadiens exercise club option, extend HC Martin St. Louis

The Canadiens have exercised the club option on head coach Martin St. Louis’ contract, extending their bench boss through the 2026-27 season. St. Louis’ deal was slated to expire in the summer of 2025 without the two-year option.

At 48 years old, St. Louis is one of the youngest coaches in the league. Since taking over the rebuilding Canadiens from Dominique Ducharme midway through the 2021-22 season, St. Louis has managed a 75-100-26 record. That includes guiding the Habs to a 14-19-4 finish in 2021-22 after they went 8-30-7 under Ducharme and overseeing a marginal increase from 68 points last season to 76 points this year after ending their season with back-to-back overtime/shootout losses to the Red Wings.

Speaking with reporters today, GM Kent Hughes indicated more extensions could be coming after meeting with St. Louis’ staff tomorrow. Assistant coaches Alexandre Burrows and Trevor Letowski, as well as goaltending coach Éric Raymond, are not signed for 2024-25, per Sportsnet’s Eric Engels. Hughes said he doesn’t feel the need to add a more experienced name to St. Louis’ bench and will likely keep 2023-24’s crew intact moving forward, via TVA’s Renaud Lavoie.

The Laval, Quebec, native didn’t get a chance to suit up for his hometown team during his illustrious 1,134-game NHL career, but he’s been able to make his professional coaching debut in front of one of the largest markets in the league to largely positive results. Before being named Ducharme’s interim replacement in February 2022 and being given the permanent head coach title the following offseason, St. Louis’ only NHL staff experience came as a special teams consultant with the Blue Jackets for the back half of the 2018-19 season.

He hasn’t yet been given the chance to manage a playoff-contending roster, but with a top-10 prospect pool set to continue graduating over the remainder of his extension, he should get the chance before his option expires in three years. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment this season was guiding 2022 first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky to a breakout sophomore campaign, ending his season with 20 goals and 50 points while playing in all 82 games. He also presided over a legitimate improvement in the team’s defense and possession play. Their overall 5-on-5 CF% jumped from 45.4 in 2022-23 to 46.3 this year, and their expected goals against per game at 5-on-5 improved from 2.37 to 2.13 while also generating more offense.

As such, Canadiens management believes St. Louis is the man to guide the franchise to their first playoff appearance in the post-Carey Price era. He’ll need an assist along the way from Hughes in constructing a capable roster, but early on in his coaching tenure, it’s clear he’s jelled with the team’s young core.