The Bell Center press room was the scene of a surreal moment when Martin St-Louis attempted, clumsily, to redefine what “success” is for his team.
Defeated, visibly annoyed, the Canadian head coach lost patience when a journalist dared to question the notion of success in a team which, let us remember, continues to accumulate defeats.
It was Arpon Basu, respected journalist from The Athletic, who bore the brunt of St-Louis’ frustration.
In a legitimate question, Basu asked how, despite constant setbacks, St. Louis could still speak of progress and success.
The coach’s response created unprecedented unease.
“What is success to you?”
In an exchange worthy of a dialogue of the deaf, Martin St-Louis squarely turned the question around on Basu:
“You, Arpon, how do you judge whether your work is a success? »
Visibly taken by surprise, Basu answered what seemed logical to him in his field: clicks, reading statistics on his texts.
A frank and honest response, but one that offered St. Louis a perfect angle to discredit the very notion of objectivity in the evaluation of his work.
“So, you judge your success on clicks? But you don’t have control over that. All you can do is make sure your writing is good.
It’s the same for me. I can’t control the victories. I can just make sure my team is ready. »
Consider this video clip that will go down in history as the most awkward moment of the year.
A heavy silence settled in the room. Is this a joke? The journalists present exchanged incredulous looks.
A head coach who openly admits that he doesn’t judge his job on wins? In a market like Montreal, where hockey is more than a sport, this is blasphemy.
Loser mentality at its best…
This moment illustrates a much deeper problem within the Canadian: a losing mentality that is becoming normalized day by day.
Martin St-Louis, in his attempt to downplay the importance of the results, revealed a worrying fragility in his approach.
“I don’t control the victories. »
No, but it’s your job, coach! An NHL coach must be judged on results, on victories, and not on abstract concepts of “preparation” or “effort”.
If the defeats accumulate, it is because somewhere, the plan is not working.
This clumsy statement, implying that success is limited to an unclear process, is a blatant lack of accountability.
A coach must inspire his players to surpass themselves, to seek concrete results.
But to hear St-Louis, he seems to be satisfied with fine speeches and a morally acceptable effort.
Worse still, this kind of speech risks having repercussions in the locker room.
Imagine a Nick Suzuki or a Cole Caufield hearing their coach say he can’t control the wins. What motivation can they get from this?
In the NHL, the best coaches impose a culture of high standards. Patrick Roy, for example, does not tolerate defeat.
Patrick Roy only lives for victory. Same thing for John Tortorella in Philadelphia.
Even in a rebuilding team, he demands results, intensity and total commitment.
Success, for him, is not an abstract notion; it is measured in victories, progress, and accountability.
In Montreal, with Martin St-Louis, we are treated to a pastoral discourse where mistakes are accepted, where failure is romanticized as a simple step in the process…like another life lesson with two cents.
It doesn’t work. It has never worked in a city like Montreal where fans want one thing: to win.
Partisan patience has its limits
Since the arrival of St. Louis, the fans have been patient. They accepted that the team would go through a rebuild.
But this patience is crumbling, as what was supposed to be a temporary step turns into an eternal cycle of defeats justified by dubious excuses.
This moment of press conference, where St-Louis tries to redefine the notion of success, is symptomatic of a coach who no longer has solid arguments.
He no longer convinces anyone, not even his own players. This speech, if repeated, risks permanently alienating fans who pay to see a competitive team.
Conclusion: Success is winning. Period.
Martin St-Louis can well say that he does not control the victories. But in a league where coaches are judged by results, that’s an admission of failure.
Fans don’t buy tickets to hear about effort and preparation; they want to see tangible victories and progress.
In a market as demanding as Montreal, a coach who refuses to take responsibility for defeats is a coach who no longer has his place behind the bench.
If St. Louis doesn’t understand that success is measured in wins, then it may soon have to explain its own failure in another newsroom… that of a former coach who was fired.
If the first part of Martin St-Louis’ press conference sowed obvious unease in the room, the second half turned into downright ridicule when the head coach tried to justify that, despite repeated defeats, the Montreal Canadiens season has been a success so far.
Yes, you read that correctly. For Martin St-Louis, the CH is progressing and developing a winning mentality, even if the results indicate quite the opposite.
“I see a team that is improving” : Really?
St-Louis insisted on a point which startled more than one journalist present:
“For me, it’s a success because I see a team that is improving. I see guys working to build something. »
This statement, delivered with disconcerting confidence, provoked stunned looks in the room.
We are talking here about a team which is languishing in the depths of the NHL, which accumulates humiliating defeats, and whose young players supposed to embody the future are stagnating – even regressing.
Slafkovsky gets bogged down, Dach collapses…but are we talking about success?
Take Juraj Slafkovsky, for example. The Slovak is on the way to becoming a symbol of this too gentle management which prevents young people from progressing.
Despite performances that oscillate between invisible and mediocre, Slafkovsky continues to be rewarded by St-Louis with ice time on the first units.
“He works hard, I see positive signs. »
Positive signs? We’re talking about a player who has only scored a few goals all season, who hesitates to engage in physical play and who seems totally lost on the ice.
If St. Louis sees progress, he is the only one.
Then there’s Kirby Dach, who was expected to be the second center of the future. His start to the season is like the team: pathetic and sad.
Unable to impose himself, he accumulates costly errors. This player, in whom management placed so much hope, is collapsing before the eyes of a coach who refuses to apply the slightest pressure.
St-Louis defended himself by swearing that his group is working to build a winning mentality. However, on the ice, it’s quite the opposite.
The Canadians make a series of defensive errors, stupid penalties and spectacular collapses. Disastrous third periods where the team completely abandons its game plan have become the norm.
The famous “progress” praised by St. Louis is invisible. On the contrary, the Canadian is visibly regressing, both collectively and individually.
With each match, the players seem more and more disorganized, lacking structure and leadership.
What is even more shocking is Martin St-Louis’ loss of control towards journalist Arpon Basu. Instead of responding calmly, he chose to turn and attack his interlocutor, revealing a passive-aggressive attitude that caused chatter.
This aggressive reaction is the symbol of a coach who feels the pressure mounting and who no longer has a concrete response to offer.
By pointing out the notion of “clicks” to minimize criticism, St-Louis attempted to discredit a professional who, like all observers, only asks legitimate questions.
A coach who loses his temper in this way is often a coach who has lost control.
The speech from St-Louis, which refuses to admit the obvious shortcomings of its team, looks more like a speech of avoidance than a real desire to build a culture of victory.
If St. Louis truly believes this season is a success, then the problem runs even deeper than anyone thought.
The supporters are not naive. They see a team in disarray and a coach incapable of setting the record straight.
A coach who can’t control the victories? What a joke. In a city like Montreal, where only victory counts, this kind of speech will not last long.
The time has come for St. Louis to redefine his own notion of success, because at this rate, he may soon be watching another coach’s success… from his living room.
