LAVAL-SUR-LE-LAC – Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced on Monday that the team has agreed to terms on a multi-year contract extension with head coach Martin St-Louis.
“Marty has done a terrific job leading our young team,” said Hughes. “He is a great communicator and teacher. We look forward to his continued efforts to mold this group into a championship-caliber team.”
Under St-Louis’ guidance, the Canadiens reached the Final Four in 2025-26, ultimately losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final. The team ranked sixth in the NHL standings with 106 points in the regular season, Montreal’s highest total since the 2014-15 campaign. Since St-Louis’ first full season behind the bench in 2022-23, the Canadiens have continued to progress, as evidenced by their year-to-year increase in points in the overall standings (68 points in 2022-23; 76 points in 2023-24; 91 points in 2024-25 and 106 points in 2025-26).
St-Louis was named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award in 2024-25, presented annually “to the coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success,” after leading the Canadiens to the playoffs for the first time since 2020-21. As the youngest team in the NHL at the time, the Canadiens were eliminated in the first round by the Washington Capitals.
St-Louis was hired as interim head coach on February 9, 2022, and officially became the 32nd head coach in Canadiens history on June 1st, 2022.
