Montreal Canadiens officially remove 'interim' tag for St. Louis

Martin St. Louis is no longer the interim head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. The Hockey Hall of Famer has been officially signed to a contract extension for the next three years and becomes the 32nd head coach in the Habs long history.

"We are happy to officially appoint Martin as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens," said general manager Kent Hughes. "Martin is a proven leader, a great communicator with a deep understanding of and passion for the game of hockey. His arrival brought a renewed energy to our group, and we look forward to him returning behind the bench to continue guiding our team for the foreseeable future."

"During his short stint behind the bench last season, Martin showed he has the required qualities to lead the Canadiens in the right direction," stated vice president of hockey operations, Jeff Gorton. "Despite difficult circumstances when he took over, he was able to bring a breath of fresh air to the locker room and the players benefited from it as much individually as they did collectively. Martin thinks the game at a high level, and we believe that he is the right person for this job."

Several Montreal players saw a revival of sorts when Montreal fired former coach Dominique Ducharme and hired St. Louis as the interim bench boss. It was most noticeable with Cole Caufield, who had just one goal and seven assists on the season when St. Louis took over in February. Caufield finished the season with 23 goals and 20 assists in 67 games.

St. Louis played more than 1100 regular season games in the NHL, as well as another 107 playoff games. Besides being in the Hockey Hall of Fame, St. Louis also won the Hart Trophy in 2004, the Art Ross trophy in 2004 and 2014, was awarded the Lady Byng trophy in 2010, 2011 and 2013, and won a Stanley Cup in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

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