St. Louis has 'zero' emotion toward Lightning entering East 1st Round series

BROSSARD, Quebec -- Martin St. Louis had a blunt response when asked about the emotions he was going to face against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference First Round.

"I don’t have any emotion attached to the Lightning right now. Zero," St. Louis said.

That may be true, but there's no denying St. Louis' history in Tampa Bay.

The 50-year-old played 13 seasons with the Lightning from 2000-14, including helping them win the Stanley Cup in 2004. During his time with the team, he won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player (2003-04), the Ted Lindsay Award as the “most outstanding player in the NHL” as voted on by members of the NHLPA (2003-04), and the Art Ross Trophy as the scoring champion twice (2003-04, 2012-13).

That Stanley Cup championship banner, as well as his No. 26, which was retired by the Lightning on Jan. 13, 2017, will be above St. Louis' head when he coaches his Montreal Canadiens against Tampa Bay in Game 1 at Benchmark International Arena on Sunday (5:45 p.m. ET; The Spot, HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).

But all of that is in the past for St. Louis, who is all about the here and now.

Which explains why his feelings are so cut and dry.

“Honestly, I think I’m so far removed from that,” St. Louis said. “You know, I think it’s my fourth (full) year now (with Montreal). I’ve gone to the building plenty of times. I think the first time I went, yeah, it was a little weird. But I’m so far removed from that.”

When St. Louis was named Montreal's interim coach on Feb. 9, 2022, replacing Dominique Ducharme, it came as a surprise to many.

However, in his four seasons as head coach, St. Louis has overseen a quick rebuild and is now leading a young, talented team into the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Not that any of that is a surprise to Lightning coach Jon Cooper.

"Before he was [coaching] in the NHL, he'd be in our locker room visiting, and he was coaching kids hockey, but he was asking about what do you guys do here and all these things,” Cooper said after practice on Friday. “So, am I surprised at his success? Not an ounce. Marty is going to be successful in anything he does.”

That has been apparent this season.

After qualifying for the playoffs as the second wild card from the Eastern Conference last season, St. Louis guided the Canadiens to third place in the Atlantic Division this season with 106 points, their second-most in the past 37 years (110 in 2014-15).

It's a far cry from 2021-22, when Montreal finished last in the NHL with just 55 points.

"Do I think Marty has done a hell of a job? Yes,” Cooper said. “I was fortunate enough to coach Marty, not for a long time (from 2013-14), but I know his hockey sense, his hockey mind, his acumen. He knows the game and he sees it in advance. That's probably why somebody of his size (5-foot-8) was in the League so long. He's super competitive, he's super talented, but he had a drive about him and he's got the same thing in coaching.”

When asked whether that drive to could lead to results similar to the Lightning (back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021), Cooper deferred a bit before stating the path was there.

"He's in the Hall of Fame. I'm not,” Cooper said. “With our teams are there similarities? It's hard to say. In my second full year (2014-15) we were unbelievably fortunate to make it to the Stanley Cup Final, and we kind of knocked at the door for a number of years.

“It's hard for me to sit here and predict what's going to happen in Montreal, but do they have a great core? Yes. Do they have a great coach? Yes. The management/ownership, top to bottom, they've got everything that's set up to succeed and a bunch of young, talented players that are coming up and finding themselves. So, is the path there? It is. They just have to do it."

NHL.com independent correspondent Corey Long contributed to this report.