BUFFALO – Martin St. Louis is satisfied he can be nice when the time comes.
The Montreal Canadiens head coach is within the thick of a second-round playoff sequence with the Buffalo Sabres for an opportunity to battle within the NHL’s Japanese Convention closing.
St. Louis additionally is aware of his chosen career may be extremely unstable.
The Edmonton Oilers fired Kris Knoblauch, who helped the membership attain the final two Stanley Cup finals, on Thursday following a six-game loss to the Anaheim Geese on this spring’s opening spherical.
The transfer got here lower than 24 hours after the Toronto Maple Leafs handed Cup-winning bench boss Craig Berube his strolling papers on the heels of a disastrous 2025-26 marketing campaign.
Employed in February 2022 with none skilled teaching expertise, St. Louis has the fourth-longest tenure within the league behind Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jared Bednar of the Colorado Avalanche and Rod Brind’Amour of the Carolina Hurricanes.
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The clock, nevertheless, is ticking on each coach.
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“It’s a part of the enterprise, and it’s not one thing I fear about,” St. Louis mentioned Thursday morning forward of Sport 5. “I like what I’m doing, and I’ll do it until any individual tells me that I can’t do it anymore.
“And I’m OK … I like hockey, however I’ve a life outdoors hockey. I’ll go watch my children play. I’m good with that.”
The Corridor of Fame winger mentioned the atmosphere of the playoffs nonetheless will get his juices flowing.
“You’re feeling such as you’re on the battlefield,” he mentioned. “You’re attempting to win this battle towards this crew, and it takes 4 wins — you get knocked down and the method of getting again up. It’s like a boxing match, virtually, the place the spherical’s over, you discuss it, you might need received the spherical, misplaced the spherical. You make delicate changes. You get again and also you present some braveness.
“I do know I’m not on the ice, however you’re in there with them. It’s fairly enjoyable.”
DEMIGOD NOD
Canadiens rookie Ivan Demidov completed second in Calder Trophy voting as NHL rookie of the 12 months behind unanimous winner Matthew Schaefer of the New York Islanders.
The 20-year-old Russian winger completed forward of Geese ahead Beckett Sennecke to seize second from Skilled Hockey Writers Affiliation voters.
“He’s performed an exceptional job this 12 months,” Montreal winger Josh Anderson mentioned of Demidov. “He’s so silky on the market, so expert. He’s in all probability bought probably the greatest edge works (with skating) I’ve seen as a participant.
“For him to return in as a younger man on this market, I believe he’s performed an exceptional job. He’s solely getting higher, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Could 14, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press