The Montreal Canadiens have given Martin St. Louis a contract extension, the team announced. St. Louis, 51, was entering the last year of his current deal, a club option that was exercised to extend him through the 2026-27 season.
He is now signed through the 2029-30 season, as this deal he inked was a four-year deal, erasing the current club option he was on. He’s coming off a successful 48-win, 106-point season, which resulted in an Eastern Conference Finals berth in 2025-26.
He did so with the NHL’s youngest and least experienced team. Last year, the Habs had an average roster age of 25.82 and saw a total of 9,320 NHL games played as a group.
Despite the youthful makeup of the team, St. Louis conjured the best campaign he’s had since joining Montreal behind the bench as their coach. “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.” When St. Louis took the reins, Montreal was in the depths of the NHL’s ranks.
A team that fell from the grace of a Stanley Cup Final run that was struck by Lightning, literally, losing to Tampa Bay in five games. A follow-up season of 8-30-7 from the bench boss, Dominique Ducharme, saw that change was needed after nearing a triumph of a 25th Stanley Cup for the franchise.
On February 9th of that year, St. Louis joined the team as Interim Head Coach, and he immediately helped the Canadiens. The Hall of Fame player jumped behind the bench for the first time and helped the club to a 14-19-4 record down the stretch.
He was also credited for unlocking young star winger Cole Caufield in his ability to emerge as a true NHL goal scorer. From there, St. Louis has been integral in the Canadiens’ growth to the formidable foe the NHL fears them to be now.
He elevated them from 68 points in 2022-23 to 91 points in 2024-25, leading them to their first playoff berth since that 2020-21 season. As a result, St. Louis was a finalist for the Jack Adams award given to the league’s best coach for that season.
As a player, St. Louis went undrafted. The 5’8″ forward from the University of Vermont started his career with the Calgary Flames but was relegated to waivers early on.
When he ended up with the Tampa Bay Lightning, a shift happened, and he would become one of the league’s most consistent offensive players for the next decade. He played in 1,134 regular-season games and amassed 1,033 points, won the Stanley Cup, Olympic gold, and many individual awards.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019, a few years after retirement. More to come.