St. Louis signs extension with Canadiens, who look to keep climbing this season

LAVAL, Quebec – Under clear, brisk late summer skies on Monday morning, the Montreal Canadiens celebrated their 50th annual season-opening charity golf tournament by tearing up what was left of the contract of coach Martin St. Louis.

And then the team announced that it had signed St. Louis to a multiyear extension; in fact it's a four-year deal, including this season's final year to which he had agreed in June 2022 and three more through 2029-30.

"I'm flattered," St. Louis told reporters gathered at Laval-sur-le-Lac north of Montreal for the annual tournament that benefits the Montreal Canadiens Children's Foundation.

"I'm comfortable where I am today. I love what I'm doing. I love being coach of the Canadiens. I wouldn't be here without all the steps the club has taken. I didn't come in here to try to be a certain way… I just came in to be myself, to help the group along the way. I can say that I haven't changed how I coach, just because we're better. I've probably changed a little bit what I coach because we're getting better. … I'm glad that I've stayed true to myself."

Geoff Molson, the Canadiens owner, president and chief executive officer of Groupe CH, speaks before his team's annual golf tournament.

St. Louis took the Canadiens three rounds deep in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Montreal ultimately falling in five games to the eventual champion Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final. Montreal ranked sixth in regular-season League standings with 106 points, the club's best showing since 2014-15.

Since 2022-23, St. Louis' first full season as coach, the Canadiens have been on a steady climb: 68 points in 2022-23; 76 points in 2023-24; 91 points in 2024-25; and 106 points last season.

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.

He was hired as interim coach on Feb. 9, 2022, officially becoming the 32nd head coach in franchise history on June 1, 2022.

Jeff Gorton, the Canadiens president of hockey operations, speaks before the team's annual golf tournament.

The announcement of St. Louis' new contract was the highlight of Monday morning, team executives and handful of players stepping behind a microphone to address the usual huge crush of media before they headed out onto the golf course.

Geoff Molson, the team owner, president and chief executive officer of Groupe CH, led off, followed by Jeff Gorton, the Canadiens president of hockey operations; general manager Kent Hughes; St. Louis; and Derek Lalonde, the team's newly hired associate coach.

They were followed by captain Nick Suzuki and forward Josh Anderson, who on this morning was announced as a new alternate captain, to wear the "A" with defenseman Mike Matheson. Speaking as well were Cole Caufield, a 50-goal scorer in 2025-26; Zachary Bolduc, who on Sunday signed a new four-year contract; forward Juraj Slafkovsky; and Chris Kreider, a power forward who on Saturday signed a one-year contract and promises to bring speed, net-front presence and plenty of sandpaper to the lineup.

The expectations of fans for the Canadiens have not been higher in recent memory, especially given last season's strong run. Montreal will open training camp this week with its core group intact, along with the addition of Kreider.

Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki offers his thoughts to the media before teeing it up with teammates and club executives on Monday.

"I don't like using the word 'expectation,' necessarily," Molson said. "I think our team is hungry. We saw it last year, we saw it the year before. They're going to keep on building. I don't think the word expectation is the right word. We're proud of them, they did great last year, and I have no doubt that they're going to try to come back and be even better this year.

"It comes down to the players. They're young, they're very talented. Four years ago, when I announced Jeff Gorton as president of hockey operations, we said we were going to rebuild the organization to be bigger, faster and more talented. I think we've accomplished that so far. I don't think we're entirely there yet, but the progress has been very impressive. …

"I'd say that we've done a good job over the past three or four years, building a good core group of players," Molson added. "(We're) a young team still and I think we're just going to keep building, keep on constructing and filling gaps and trying to get better every year."

Gorton spoke of the team's focus on the process, of working day by day with attention to details.

Chris Kreider is expected to bring speed, a net-front presence and much-needed grit to the Canadiens lineup.

"I think we've had success," he said. "We're taking it one day at a time, just trying to get better. It's worked in the room, it's worked for our organization just to keep pushing our guys. "There's a lot of pride in there, the guys just want to be good, they know we have a good team and are moving in the right direction. We try not to add any pressure to that. We just try to get better, think about what's next and think about the first game of the season.

"We're just trying to stay focused on the ‘now,' trying to get better every day, keep working at it. It's a reality, we're trying to move this along, trying to take another step all the time. With that comes pressure and the players all see that. It's a confident group and we'll see that the season brings for us."

There are no guarantees, of course. Every team needs to come out of the gate strongly, avoid long slumps, stay healthy and have some luck along the way.

"I'm not going to go back in time and try to explain to you why I thought Carolina got the edge on us," St. Louis said of the conference final. "We've continued to evolve as a team. Every year we've taken great steps. How big of a step are we going to take (now)? I don't know. But if we do things with a little more detail, I think it's going to help us maintain that trajectory that we've been on.

"Is that going to be enough? I don't know. But our attention has to be at the front of that. We have to do the things that we talk about and I'm glad that Nick (Suzuki) is talking about that already.

Laval-sur-le-Lac Golf Club north of Montreal offered a perfect day for the team's annual tournament, benefiting the Montreal Canadiens Children's Foundation.

"We've had very high standards from the start. When you have continuity from year to year, (when) you've increased the talent level from year to year, you get some results that now raise the expectations. The approach we've taken all along is just stacking the days. We've focused on that. The rest kind of takes care of itself. I see us attacking it the same way (this season)."

Hughes is delighted to have St. Louis locked up for the next four seasons behind the bench, confident that even brighter days are ahead for a team that is seeking to win the 25th Stanley Cup for a franchise that is older than even the NHL, its last having come in 1993.

"We've progressed every year (under St. Louis), we made the playoffs (against) extreme odds two years ago at one point in the year," Hughes said. "Last year he was able to maneuver the team to the conference final. He hasn't given us any reason to doubt him. 

"The reasons we hired him weren't simply for player development. It's because we thought he could become an excellent coach. He's a very, very bright guy with a very analytical mind, and I believe that Marty and our group will continue to get better."

St. Louis stepped from behind the microphone near 9:30 a.m., headed to a series of interviews with TV reporters. Headed back to the clubhouse, he stopped to pose for a photo.

"Time to start coaching," he said, happy the contract signing is behind him with a season of hockey straight ahead.

Top photo: Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis on Monday before the start of his team's annual golf tournament.