Stu Cowan: Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis has his players' attention

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If Martin St. Louis wasn’t coaching the Canadiens, he would make a great motivational speaker.

After the rebuilding Canadiens were officially eliminated from playoff contention with a 7-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last Thursday night at the Bell Centre, St. Louis kept a positive attitude during his post-game news conference. He noted that sometimes in life you go to a funeral and other times you go to a celebration of life. He said that while it’s disappointing not making the playoffs and that mentally it’s a downer, there are a lot of positives signs of progression from his team this season worth celebrating.

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“We’re going to finish with that vibe,” St. Louis added.

That news conference reminded me of one of the late, great Red Fisher’s favourite lines during his Hall of Fame career covering the Canadiens when the team was struggling: “Show me the players.”

Since becoming head coach, St. Louis has shown an ability to get the most out of his players. While the Canadiens lack depth of talent, they don’t give up and their compete level has been impressive all season.

St. Louis describes the NHL as a “big mountain” and said his young players are still learning how to climb that mountain and that what they’ve learned this season won’t be lost moving forward.

Compare St. Louis’s words with those from Philadelphia head coach John Tortorella after the Flyers — who also entered this season in a rebuilding mode — lost 4-3 to the New York Islanders on April 1.

“We’re finding things out,” Tortorella told reporters in Philadelphia. “There are certain people that don’t have a clue how to play. Or just don’t have it in them to play in these types of situations. This is why I’m glad we’re playing, because we have to figure things out, as far as what we’re going to become as a team here.

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“That was an embarrassing second period for the Philadelphia Flyer uniform, the way we played,” Tortorella added. “Embarrassing. High marks as far as how we came back in the third period. Some guys.”

Tortorella also said some of his players “don’t have the balls to play in these types of games.”

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The Flyers surprised people this season by becoming playoff contenders, but the players now seem to have given up on Tortorella in his second season behind the bench.

After being told by their coach they don’t “have a clue how to play,” the Flyers responded by losing their next three games while being outscored 19-7 — including a 9-3 loss to the Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night in which 20-year-old Juraj Slafkovsky recorded his first NHL hat trick. It was a meaningless game for the Canadiens, but a very important one for the Flyers, who saw their winless streak reach eight games (0-6-2) and their odds of making the playoffs drop to 4 per cent. Their playoff odds were 88 per cent on March 24, before the winless streak started.

Tortorella and St. Louis are great friends and have mutual respect for one another after winning the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Lightning in 2004 when Tortorella was the coach and St. Louis was the star player. But their coaching styles are totally different and St. Louis’s is a much better fit in today’s NHL, while Tortorella’s is outdated.

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More important than Xs and Os for a coach today is the ability to motivate players and get them to buy into the systems — or concepts, the word St. Louis prefers — they’re selling.

“I think as coaches you’re always in the business of convincing your team,” St. Louis said. “For me, the only thing I worry about convincing them is how we play. Why we’re playing a certain way. And if they’re not sure about something, they know that we can talk about it. Because, at the end of the day, it’s not about being right. If we’re going to argue, it’s not about being right. It’s about getting it right. Get it right. Because there’s plenty of ways you can play.

“So for me, if I don’t have them sold on something, well I got to do a better job,” St. Louis added. “I have to teach it better, I have to find better clips. But I enjoy that part of the game, convincing my players to play a certain way. And not to say that the way we play right now is going to be exactly the way we’re going to play in Game 54 next year. I don’t know? The game always speaks to us. I like to think I’ve learned to inspire a group. Every now and then you have to bring them confidence. But I think the most important job as a coach is convincing your team why you’re playing a certain way. Because if you have them convinced they’ll buy in.”

The Canadiens have bought in to what St. Louis is selling.

Now it’s up to GM Kent Hughes to find him better players.

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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