St. Louis prepared to take Canadiens through next phase of rebuild

BROSSARD, Que. — I was in the press conference room of the Baptist Health IcePlex, pondering the best way to frame a question to Paul Maurice.

He was preparing the Florida Panthers to clinch their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final berth, so I didnâ€t think there was a better person to ask: what goes into winning?

I did think there was a better way to ask than straight up, though, because itâ€s not as if, after 35 years of living and breathing hockey, I was angling to come off as a know-nothing to one of the gameâ€s sharpest thinkers. My whole reason for asking was that I knew the answer, but needed Maurice to say it so I could later attach his words to what Iâ€d be writing after the Panthers would inevitably capitalize on their 3-0 series lead to knock off the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.

So, I put it on a tee for him.

“In the years since youâ€ve been coaching, the game has evolved dramatically, but the ingredients that go into winning donâ€t appear to have changed at all. So, what goes into winning?â€

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Maurice predictably smashed it down the middle of the fairway.

What I didnâ€t expect, though, was the specific way he framed his answer.

“Things weâ€ve talked about in our room are the game doesnâ€t care who you are, it doesnâ€t care what style of game you play, doesnâ€t care how much talent you have, doesnâ€t care how you feel, doesnâ€t care about what youâ€ve been through,†Maurice said. “Thereâ€s a set of things that it demands, and itâ€s not perfect, but if you are the team that does the things the game demands of you, you have a better chance of winning.â€

I immediately texted the audio to Martin St. Louis.

He wrote back, “Amen.â€

I was half expecting St. Louis to say, “he stole my material.â€

The exchange with Maurice came at the end of May, exactly 26 days after the Montreal Canadiens were eliminated from a playoff round theyâ€d have never partaken in had St. Louis not drilled home that exact message (practically verbatim) to his players from September through April. It ultimately left me with great material for my series-wrapping column two days later, but it also put a seal on the conclusion I had been formulating through the Canadiens†surprising ascent in the standings last season: that St. Louis was not only the right man for the development phase of Montrealâ€s rebuild but also the right man to eventually bring the Canadiens to their contention window and shepherd them through it.

Maurice is considered one of the most inspirational coaches in all of sports, and this precise messaging to his team has made him a two-time Cup winner. St. Louis has one ring from his playing days and, as coach, has tapped into the same exact messaging to get his team closer to one day delivering him another.

On Monday, ahead of his fifth season running the Canadiens†bench, St. Louis and I came back on the texts we exchanged in May as part of a 20-minute discussion about his philosophy and methodology.

“That message is everything that Iâ€m trying to have my team absorb,†he said. “I didnâ€t invent that (philosophy). I felt that as a player, Iâ€ve been around the league long enough to know itâ€s true. If youâ€re struggling as a team, nobody cares. If youâ€re struggling as a player, the league doesnâ€t care, youâ€ve got to dig yourself out of that. You get an injury? Nobody cares. Itâ€s always about whatâ€s next.â€

As a coach, itâ€s always about whatâ€s now.

When I asked St. Louis what worries him, he said, “nothing, because to have worry is to think about the future.â€

“Iâ€m in the present,†he added. “I feel good with where we are in the present. What happens in the present is going to dictate whatâ€s next, so why worry?

“Itâ€s the power of the mind. If you worry about stuff, trust me, itâ€s going to happen. The same way that if you have a positive mindset, that can happen too.â€

When asked what heâ€s positively manifesting for this upcoming Canadiens season, St. Louis said “growth.â€

He and the Canadiens have experienced a lot of it since he was hired in February of 2022. Itâ€s happened slowly and methodically, and, according to St. Louis, the way it absolutely had to for them to arrive where they are now.

“When I first took the job, this team was emotionally down and drained and I needed to change that,†he said. “So, whatâ€s fun about the game? Offence or defence? Offence, thatâ€s fun. First thing I did was I only talked about offence. I mean, of course we tried to be organized defensively, but I didnâ€t coach that part of it hard. I coached offensively because I needed to bring the fun back to the rink. And then fast forward to when the guys were ready for it, I started hammering down the defensive side of it — in our zone, forecheck, which is a defensive action, even if itâ€s 200 feet from our net. Now, I feel like throughout last year, and going into this year weâ€ve been trying to connect both zones. Weâ€re trying to be a little more predictable to each other in the neutral zone, with a strategy that can help us connect the two ends.

“Thatâ€s where we are.â€

The path to this point wasnâ€t linear, but as St. Louis would say, the dots did connect.

Oh sure, the Canadiens closed out his first half-season with a league-worst 55 points before he got them up to 68 points a year later. He then coached them through the most one-goal games in the NHL to get them to 76 points in 2023-24. And finally, there was the jump to 91 points and a playoff berth in ’24-25.

But we canâ€t gloss over the most difficult part of St. Louis†tenure — from Oct. 9, 2024, through Dec. 1, 2024, when the Canadiens appeared to be taking a huge step backwards, posting an 8-13-3 record and the NHLâ€s second-worst points percentage — because St. Louis wonâ€t. He views it as the most formative period.

“You donâ€t grow without outside forces that challenge you,†St. Louis said. “You donâ€t grow if everything is perfect. I felt challenged as a coach, for sure. It was an opportunity to see, who am I as a coach? I know who I was and how I would react to those challenges as a player, so how would it be different as a coach? I feel you go to work, you find the answers. Not just answers, youâ€ve got to be sure you have the right ones.â€

The right ones were technical tweaks and message refinements aimed at getting the Canadiens to, as Maurice would put it, do the things the game demands.

They began adjusting, listening and calculating their risks more efficiently. And when the results started to flip, they emerged fully convinced in what St. Louis was selling them — that even if the game has evolved in many ways, the ingredients that go into a winning recipe havenâ€t changed.

He did it with patience, empathy, passion and determination — exactly the way executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes thought he would when they hired him.

“We brought Marty in for his emotional intelligence, and for his hockey mind and leadership knowing that he lacked experience in certain areas that he would quickly gain while also bringing qualities that were completely unique to him,†said Hughes via text Monday. “He has done exactly what we expected. He has also learned how to manage players, coaches, staff, and he has optimized his time to handle what requires his day-to-day attention and delegate what doesnâ€t.†   

Itâ€s all part of what earned St. Louis a nomination as a Jack Adams finalist for coach of the year in 2025, and he believes itâ€ll guide him to produce better results for the Canadiens this season.

Brendan Gallagher believes that, too.

“Because he knows what it takes to get us ready,†he said on Saturday. “In terms of how we play, weâ€ve been working on it since he showed up. We have a pretty good blueprint, so now itâ€s just perfecting on the little details of our game.â€

St. Louis will hammer them home with more authority than he ever has before because thatâ€s what the game is demanding of him right now.

“Last year I talked about there being a little bit more hard coaching, and itâ€s not like I went from zero to 60,†he said. “It was elevating, and this year itâ€s going to keep getting elevated because I expect more. You canâ€t come in and be a hard ass right away; you have to build trust over time and build a way of playing. Weâ€re further down the line in all the chapters weâ€ve gone through that I now expect more understanding of everything. At this point, I feel we shouldâ€ve absorbed plenty for me to be more demanding.â€

That doesnâ€t mean punishing well-intentioned plays that go wrong. It means expecting more well-intentioned plays and coaching out miscalculations.

“The rules are clear,†said St. Louis, “and theyâ€re non-negotiable.â€

He talked about blocking a shot when youâ€re in front of one, making plays when you have a numerical advantage and the game situation — the score, the clock — is in your favour, and making good line changes as examples of all the ordinary things that increase your chances. He said that so long as those principles were respected, heâ€d never stifle the creativity of his players in situations that enable them to do the extraordinary things theyâ€re capable of.

“You talk about the recipe of winning? The recipe has always been the same,†St. Louis concluded. “From the day I came here, Iâ€ve always talked about playing the game thatâ€s in front of them and doing what the game demands. Iâ€ve said it over and over and over.â€

Itâ€s what had me reaching for my phone as I heard Maurice say the same thing last May, and what reinforced to me that St. Louis can teach what heâ€s learned about winning.

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