Martin St-Louis brought the Canadian to the series and he could get another reward.
Posted at 1:04 p.m.
St-Louis is one of the three finalists for the Jack-Adams trophy, given to the head coach of the NHL.
The other two finalists are Spencer Carbery, Washington Capitals, and Scott Arniel, Winnipeg jets.
St-Louis helped the Habs participate in the series for the first time since the lost final of 2021. The team increased its total points for a third season in a row, after its historic 55-point hollow, in 2021-2022, a season during which St-Louis was hired. The Montrealers have raised 68 points the following season, 76 points in 2023-2024 and 91 points this season.
This campaign was however not a long, quiet river. The CH showed a 4-9-2 sheet after 15 games, from 8-13-3 to December 2, the day after a severe defeat of 6-3 in Boston. There remained another correction, 9-2 in the hands of the Penguins, in the bank before the holidays.
At the heart of the difficult sequence, he had even submitted his men to a punitive training on 1is November in Washington, the kind of exercise that we see less and less. “In life, everything has an expiration date. Patience too, ”he launched in a press scrum after the session.
As of Christmas, the, 625 file from the Canadian (26-14-8) was the NHL ninth, a reversal partly attributable to a boost of his bosses, who acquired Alexandre Carrier against Justin Barron, a week before Christmas, in order to stabilize the right flank of defense.
St-Louis was also helped by a healthy workforce throughout the calendar. Ten skaters played 80 or more games and the guards all avoided injuries. According to NHL Injury Viz, the tricolor players missed 149 injury games. Only five teams display a better assessment.
St-Louis wins this appointment despite circumstances which seemed unfavorable at the start of the game. Alexandre Burrows, one of his assistants since his hiring, left his post during the last dead season and has never been replaced. Despite one less resource behind the bench, CH has exceeded expectations this season and has deployed the ninth digital disadvantage of the NHL to 80.9 % of efficiency. The digital advantage, at 20.1 %, however dragged the paw, at 21e rang.
St-Louis is the first pilot in CH among the three finalists at Jack-Adams since Guy Carbonneau in 2007-2008. Pat Burns, in 1988-1989, was the last hole of the Habs to have won him.
Carbery led the capital to the best file of the Eastern Association with 111 points, an improvement of 20 points compared to the previous season. In parallel, he had to deal with the hunt for a goal record led by Alex Ovechkin, which could easily have become a distraction.
The winner of the Jack-Adams trophy is determined after a ballot led after members of the NHL matches.
