Canadiens exercise two-year option on coach Martin St. Louis - ESPN

The Canadiens exercised the two-year option on Martin St. Louis' contract Wednesday, keeping the head coach behind the bench in Montreal through the 2026-27 season.

St. Louis, 48, guided the Canadiens to a 30-36-16 record this season, resulting in the third consecutive campaign in which the team failed to qualify for the playoffs since reaching the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. He is 75-100-26 since replacing Dominique Ducharme on Feb. 9, 2022.

«Every day he proves something else,» Canadiens executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton said of St. Louis. «There's not a day that goes by we're not happy he's at the helm.»

A Stanley Cup champion as a forward with the Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Louis totaled 1,033 points (391 goals, 642 assists) in 1,134 career games with the Calgary Flames, Lightning and New York Rangers. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.