There will obviously come a time when Martin St. Louis is no longer head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. Based on the Habs’ early-season struggles to start 2024-25, some have suggested the end of his tenure should come sooner rather than later. However, firing him would be the wrong way to approach the conundrum the team faces.
To be fair, if Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes feels the need to make a change, whether it be behind the bench or via trade, now would be the time: It’s fairly clear the Canadiens aren’t gelling, it’s not even a month into the season and the Habs are just three points out of a playoff spot.
In other words, this season is entirely “salvageable,” if by “salvageable” the goal is to reach the postseason. However, while a playoff berth would be a clear sign of progression for a maturing team, and that is important, that specifically shouldn’t have ever been the priority three years into an extended from-the-ground-up rebuild.
2024-25 Can Still Be a Successful Canadiens Season
There are other metrics for success:
- A point increase in the standings, short of making the playoffs
- Point increases/progression on the part of individual developing players
- The number of unwanted contracts on the way out, ideally for additional futures
Understandably, the idea of trading for additional future might be a trigger for some Canadiens fans. It suggests an ongoing process of building through the draft with no end in sight. At what point will Hughes and company make a concerted effort to turn this into a playoff team?
It’s a fair question. However, the answer probably isn’t one year after a fifth-from-last finish, when the Canadiens nevertheless showed significant improvement, but still ended up getting their guy in top-prospect Ivan Demidov at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
All in all, 2023-24 was a success. This season can still be too, even without the playoffs. Sure, following the acquisition of Patrik Laine, it seemed like the playoffs were the logical goal. Then Laine got injured during the preseason. Then Kaiden Guhle and Juraj Slafkovsky followed suit. Those are three impact players who are on the shelf , which excludes defenseman Justin Barron, fourth-line-forward Rafael Harvey-Pinard and top-prospect David Reinbacher. There’s only so much, forget St. Louis, anyone can do under these circumstances. It’s not entirely on him.
Related: Canadiens’ Clear Priority Is to Compete for Playoff Spot in 2024-25
Now, to be clear, injuries aren’t an excuse for poor on-ice performance. The best teams have the organizational depth to compensate in the event of multiple injuries. However, that would be more so a reflection of Hughes’ work than that of St. Louis and, if most people are in agreement that Hughes has done a fine job restocking the cupboard with top young talent, effectively realizing his mandate upon getting hired, what is the point of any argument suggested by critics, presumably with a straight face, that a hockey-operations change of some sort is required?
No One Can Realistically Replace St. Louis Right Now
Obviously, the Canadiens aren’t playing well. And St. Louis will probably be the first to say he isn’t happy, after Habs fans everywhere have gotten the chance to voice their respective opinions on the matter anyway, that is. However, the notion that someone new will be able to get something sustainable out of the team, especially the young guys, that St. Louis hasn’t already is akin to watching the situation unfold wearing both darkly tinted and rose-coloured glasses all at once. It’s overly pessimistic to believe the Habs are doomed with St. Louis behind the bench and overly optimistic to believe someone else will have more luck.
First of all, you’d be looking at a proven name to replace him, seeing as St. Louis, as a coach with no experience coming in, hasn’t worked out in the eyes of his critics. That right there kind of sums up the absurdity of the situation. To address current criticism, you’d be tailoring your talent search to meet their needs, not those of the team. However, of the veteran coaches who are (still) available, do any really stand out as viable options?
Maybe Gerard Gallant, who served as an assistant coach in Montreal before. Maybe Kirk Muller, who has obviously captained the team before. However, how long before their non-native French and non-Francophone last names become an issue in the media? How long before Claude Julien enters the conversation, after failing twice before as Habs head coach?
This isn’t even a serious conversation. It’s a joke.
St. Louis Still the Man for the Job
St. Louis obviously checks that box, but also several others. He’s not that far removed from his playing days and is considered a prototypical player’s coach as a result. That’s something you want on a young team, when, again, the priority should be their development. They’re still rebuilding with relatively low expectations.
Bringing in someone new before the Canadiens are ready to take the next step into eventual contention makes them a lame-duck hire. They’re almost inevitably going to lose for a long stretch of time themself. So, if you must bring in an established name, sheer logic dictates you wait until that point in time, and make St. Louis, the current coach who’s still under contract, the lame duck instead, that is if you’re precluding the possibility he grows further into the role, along with the team, with more experience.
Coaches only get hired to be fired eventually. St. Louis’ time will come, but rushing it needlessly just because the Canadiens aren’t living up to artificially inflated expectations is worse than pointless. Doing so would just be to satiate the bloodthirst of a vocal minority, when a call for patience had always been preached heading into the rebuild. Yes, Hughes and executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton did say they saw the Canadiens to be in the mix after the trade deadline, and, the way things are going, that’s not going to happen.
There are worse things, though… like:
- Continually insisting the goal is just to make the playoffs, where, once there, anything can happen instead.
- Risking the state of the overall rebuild just to improve slightly and hopefully, if everything goes just right, barely make the playoffs.
- Literally just about everything else.
Admittedly, patience isn’t infinite and it’s clearly beginning to run dry. And Hughes and Gorton do answer to the fans to a degree. There’s not really a good solution to the aforementioned conundrum, but there sure as hell are several bad ones. Firing a head coach who’s unable to get an injury-ravaged lineup into the playoffs when the playoffs weren’t guaranteed to begin with tops the list.
