‘Part of the business’: Habs’ St. Louis reflects on volatile NHL coaching carousel

BUFFALO — Martin St. Louis is convinced he will be fine when the time comes.

The Montreal Canadiens head coach is in the thick of a second-round playoff series with the Buffalo Sabres for a chance to battle in the NHL’s Eastern Conference final.

St. Louis also knows his chosen profession can be incredibly volatile.

The Edmonton Oilers fired Kris Knoblauch, who helped the club reach the last two Stanley Cup finals, on Thursday following a six-game loss to the Anaheim Ducks in this spring’s opening round.

The move came less than 24 hours after the Toronto Maple Leafs handed Cup-winning bench boss Craig Berube his walking papers on the heels of a disastrous 2025-26 campaign.

Hired in February 2022 without any professional coaching experience, St. Louis has the fourth-longest tenure in the league behind Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jared Bednar of the Colorado Avalanche and Rod Brind’Amour of the Carolina Hurricanes.

The clock, however, is ticking on every coach.

“It’s part of the business, and it’s not something I worry about,” St. Louis said Thursday morning ahead of Game 5. “I love what I’m doing, and I’ll do it till somebody tells me that I can’t do it anymore.

“And I’m OK … I love hockey, but I have his life outside hockey. I’ll go watch my kids play. I’m good with that.”

The Hall of Fame winger said the environment of the playoffs still gets his juices flowing.

“You feel like you’re on the battlefield,” he said. “You’re trying to win this battle against this team, and it takes four wins — you get knocked down and the process of getting back up. It’s like a boxing match, almost, where the round’s over, you talk about it, you might have won the round, lost the round. You make subtle adjustments. You get back and you show some courage.

“I know I’m not on the ice, but you’re in there with them. It’s pretty fun.”

DEMIGOD NOD

Canadiens rookie Ivan Demidov finished second in Calder Trophy voting as NHL rookie of the year behind unanimous winner Matthew Schaefer of the New York Islanders.

The 20-year-old Russian winger finished ahead of Ducks forward Beckett Sennecke to grab second from Professional Hockey Writers Association voters.

“He’s done a phenomenal job this year,” Montreal winger Josh Anderson said of Demidov. “He’s so silky out there, so skilled. He’s probably got one of the best edge works (with skating) I’ve seen as a player.

“For him to come in as a young guy in this market, I think he’s done a phenomenal job. He’s only getting better, too.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2026.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press