The Montreal Canadiens will be without head coach Martin St. Louis for the foreseeable future. St. Louis left the Habs recently to attend to a family matter. General manager Kent Hughes has recently commented on the situation. However, there is still no timeline for when St. Louis will return to the bench.
Hughes told reporters that the team has given their bench boss space to be with his family, per Sportsnet’s Eric Engels. The Habs general manager declined to speak more about it out of respect for the St. Louis family. Overall, the team is fully supporting the former NHL forward.
“Family comes first, I hope for everyone. We did everything we could to make sure he was able to go as soon as possible to be with his family,” Hughes said, as shared by HabsOnReddit and Montreal Gazette reporter Stu Cowan. “We don’t have any other information at the moment as to when he’ll be returning.”
Canadiens react to Martin St. Louis stepping back from Habs
With Martin St. Louis attending to a personal matter, the Canadiens are being led by assistant coach Trevor Letowski. Letowski, a former player in his own right, has head coaching experience in junior hockey. He made clear the impact St. Louis has on this team after a recent loss to the Calgary Flames.
“It’s an emotional 24 hours, and it’s obviously a private family matter right now with ‘Marty,’ but he’s the leader of our group and it was an emotional time for all of us, for staff and for players,” Letowski said, via NHL.com.
The Canadiens are well outside of the playoff race, but aren’t phoning it in. Captain Nick Suzuki said it would take more than one individual effort to ensure things continue as normal. It’s up to everyone to step up while the Habs’ head coach is away.
“Leaders need to step up,” Suzuki said, via NHL.com. “Obviously, coaches are put in a different position, and we’re helping them, they’re helping us. It’s definitely a group effort when you lose your big leader like that. Everyone’s got to pull the rope, I guess.”
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