Martin St. Louis’ Expectations for The Habs This Season

According to St. Louis, the goal is to continue how they played the last 20-30 games of last season. He mentions how it’s not about starting over this upcoming season, but continuing what they have already built last year. St. Louis talks about how the team is just further along now and that he is going to become more demanding on his players after last year’s performance, as he knows that his guys can do it. 

St. Louis was asked about whether he thinks that his team will be better defensively to start the season compared to last year, where he mentioned that the majority of the team took a step in their play as the year went on, and he believes that it will show even from the starting game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. However, he did mention that it’s really his guys who are responsible for making it happen. If they have the right work ethic and mentality, then it should be able to work out. He explained that it’s not just about structure, as without the right attitude, no matter the structure, there is no way for it to work out long-term. 

Later in the press conference, urgency was brought up and whether or not he thinks it’s important to get success early on. He agreed that it is important, but also doesn’t see that it’s a thing that players focus on in Game 1 of the season. He did mention that you don’t want to need to create urgency, but rather play the game in the now and not have to worry about being a hole, where you are playing catch-up in the future. He said the players need to get it in their heads that every game is important so that they don’t get behind the 8-ball.

St. Louis was asked about how the Habs can replace the experience and leadership that David Savard brought to the team, and whether there is more pressure on Mike Matheson because of the veteran’s retirement. He talked about how adding a guy like Noah Dobson, who has played over 400 NHL games and having another veteran like Alex Carrier, who is starting his first full season with the Canadiens, will help take a lot of pressure off Matheson to be “The Veteran” on their blueline. As for Matheson himself, St. Louis sees him as a guy who is a good defensive player, and he brings a good attitude overall, which is contagious to the other guys on the team. 

In terms of how newcomers like Zachary Bolduc can be integrated into the team, the Habs coach sees the forward as someone who will add some much-needed sandpaper to the lineup, as well as someone who can bring a lot of speed to the team. He also mentioned that Bolduc still needs to work on the little details of his game, but he believes he will get to where they want him to be in time. St. Louis also mentioned that Bolduc’s shot will be a great asset on the power play.

In terms of the split of games for the two netminders, St. Louis mentioned that he’s not really sure just yet how many each will play just, but he did joke that Jakub Dobes will at least play 17 games (due to back-to-backs). He mentioned that time will as the season goes along, how much each goalie will play. It will be decided on merit for the most part.

St. Louis was asked about the chemistry that Alex Newhook and Oliver Kapanen have developed throughout camp and why he sees them on the penalty kill over other options. He mentioned that with Newhook’s speed and Kapanen’s ability to read the play so effortlessly, they just manage to complement each other so well. He sees them as a good penalty kill duo, together with the attributes that both bring to the table when playing together. He essentially said that the duo won themselves the open roles on the penalty kill. 

Overall, St. Louis sees the team in a good situation heading into the season and thinks that there will be some improvement to the season as a whole with a much better start than last year.

Do you agree with Martin St. Louis that the Habs should improve in the 2025-26 season?