MONTREAL (AP) — Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis is taking an indefinite leave for family reasons.
Assistant coach Trevor Letowski will run the team while St. Louis is away, the Canadiens said Saturday.
Montreal lost 5-2 at Calgary on Saturday night in the opener of a five-game trip. It is 6-13-4 in its last 23 games.
The 48-year-old St. Louis was hired as interim coach after the Canadiens fired Dominique Ducharme in February 2022. He signed a three-year contract extension in June 2022.
Before coaching, St. Louis enjoyed a stellar playing career, collecting 1,033 points (391 goals, 642 assists) in 1,134 regular-season games with the Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers. He won the Stanley Cup and the Hart Trophy as the league MVP with the Lightning in 2004 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.
The 46-year-old Letowski is in his third season as a Montreal assistant. He was previously the head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL
The Associated Press
