Canadiens coach strikes balance with morning skates
Martin St. Louis takes different approach to longtime NHL tradition, moving them to Bell Centre to help players get a better feel for game nights.
Martin St. Louis takes different approach to longtime NHL tradition, moving them to Bell Centre to help players get a better feel for game nights.
He wanted to be sure he was there to welcome Martin St. Louis, who was going to introduce himself to the organization that morning and make his debut behind the Canadiens bench that evening.
“There are times when I’ve second-guessed myself but it’s all part of the learning process,” he says on the anniversary of his first game behind the bench of an NHL team.
“I love watching them,’ Hall-of-Famer says of 3 sons, including Lucas, who’s eligible for 2023 draft.
Two consecutive Canadiens games painted two different pictures of coach Martin St. Louis.
Conveying a belief in concepts over systems and getting players to buy in are big reasons why the Habs appear ahead of schedule in rebuild.
Exactly two weeks had passed since Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis was asked why he didn’t spend more time working on the power play in practice, and his answer was very revealing about who he is as a coach, his beliefs and his principles.
Martin St. Louis’ decorated playing career earned him a spot in Toronto at the Hockey Hall of Fame. But he almost didn’t make it to Tampa.
Coach spent his day off watching video of Habs’ victory over Canucks, video of his son playing and talking hockey with his dad over dinner.
It’s in between morning meetings and the Canadiens are taking to the ice for their last practice at their south-shore training facility before the start of the regular season that Martin St. Louis carves out 20 minutes for an interview.
Hall of Fame player still remembers his first training camp as an invite by Ottawa Senators and is still using lessons learned from that.
It had been roughly a week since Martin St. Louis had been named coach of the Canadiens when he walked into the interview room at the team’s practice facility in Brossard and spelled out his No. 1 principle when it comes to player development.
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