St. Louis' former teammates not surprised coach has Canadiens in East Final

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Dan Boyle will never forget Martin St. Louis' introductory press conference as the new coach of the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 10, 2022.

Boyle loved listening to St. Louis talk about putting the fun back in the game, about blocking out the noise and getting after it to silence the critics who doubt him, about inspiring and getting players excited to play, about not boxing them into a system but instead giving them the team concepts and allowing them to play on instinct, with freedom, and without confusion.

"His first press conference gave me goose bumps," Boyle, an NHL defenseman for 17 seasons from 1998-2016, told NHL.com. "It was everything I would have liked to have heard from my coach."

It was everything Boyle heard from St. Louis during their time together as teammates for six seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning (2001-08) and one with the New York Rangers (2014-15).

Boyle knew then that St. Louis would become what he is now: one of the top coaches in the NHL and a favorite among the players who play for him, because he is following through on everything he talked about in his first press conference.

"The word experience comes up all the time, and clearly Marty does not have any experience doing this," Boyle said. "But does he need it? Clearly not."

St. Louis will stand behind the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday, four years, three months and 12 days after he introduced himself to Montreal as its new coach, since taking over a team low on confidence and morale, since he was behind the bench at a level higher than peewee hockey for the first time.

Game 1 between the Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes is at Lenovo Center here (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).

"It's not guaranteed just because you were a great player that you're going to be a great coach, but when you look at his characteristics as a person you could see it," former Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. "You could see that Marty is going to be a great coach. He's a great leader because he's very good with people. He can read people. He's very calm and humble but at the same time he has his fire and you can kind of see it in his eyes. As a player I loved that. When he was in the locker room or on the ice, that mix was so good, especially in pressure situations. He's doing an excellent job now as a head coach."

John Tortorella knew right away St. Louis' future was in coaching.

Tortorella, who is coaching the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final, came up in the NHL with St. Louis. They joined together in Tampa Bay in 2000-01, when Tortorella was in his first season as a full-time NHL coach and St. Louis his first season with the Lightning, a diminutive 25-year-old forward (5-foot-8, 180 pounds) trying to carve out a career for himself.

They won the Stanley Cup together in 2004.

"Marty was a pain in the (butt), quite honestly, with how many questions he'd ask, so I kind of figured he was going to be there eventually," Tortorella said. "Very inquisitive. It was relentless as far as the questions he asked."

That's because as a player St. Louis always wanted more information, more hockey talk. It was to fuel his hockey mind. 

He did not have a storage capacity for hockey knowledge. 

"He was always trying to watch video, learn," former Lightning and Rangers teammate Brad Richards said. "He wanted to talk about the game a lot with you, especially if you played on his line, which I did a lot. He didn't just shut it down and go home. He always wanted to do stuff." 

Years later, when St. Louis was at the end of his playing career, Derek Stepan, who was a teammate in St. Louis’ last two NHL seasons (2013-15), realized he was the "smartest guy I ever played with."

Stepan said he remembers times when it felt like St. Louis was holding his and Chris Kreider's hands, "just trying to get us through the game." 

"As players we call them making tweaks. Now I look at it and clearly he was coaching," Stepan said. "In the moment it didn't feel like he was coaching, but clearly he was. His hockey IQ was very apparent when he played and now people are really getting to see it."

Mats Zuccarello, the Minnesota Wild forward who also played with St. Louis in New York, still thinks about the late-night talks he and St. Louis would have in the hotel, how they helped shape who and what he has become in the NHL, a mentor to many in Minnesota who is 37 games shy of 1,000.

"I used to pick his brain a lot, talk to him a lot, especially about the experience and how he goes about it," Zuccarello said. "He was a more vocal guy so I got a lot out of him. I used to just go to his room and play cards, me and him. We would just chat for a long time. 

"He was a real good mentor."

St. Louis has extended that into his second life in hockey. 

He has taken the knowledge he gained as a player, the answers to the questions he asked, to the highest level of his new profession, and he's coaching the Canadiens to do the things he enjoyed as a player, using the principles that allowed him and his teams to have success.

He's following through on what he said Day 1.

"What he said is, 'I am coaching individuals,' which is so true," Boyle said. "You can't coach (Arber) Xhekaj like you will (Lane) Hutson. You're not going to coach (Cole) Caufield like you will your fourth-line center. I remember in the 18 years I played there were so many coaches that were like, 'This is the way we're going to play, this is what we're going to do, and this is us.' I get it, there's a team strategy if you will, but you're coaching individuals. That's how we wanted to be coached when we played.

"I think he is coaching the way he played, which is having a way to play but within that being yourself and allowing guys to do what they can. There is no doubt he's coaching the way he played."

NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika contributed to this report