Hughes expects to settle St. Louis deal 'in the coming days'

Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes confirmed Tuesday the team is close to a deal to have Martin St. Louis back behind the bench next season.

"I'm not worried about our negotiations with Martin," Hughes said. "Our focus has been on the draft coming up. We've been in Europe, Martin has been away with his kids at a tournament. So, I expect in the coming days to be able to settle the contract."

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reported last week an extension to make the Hockey Hall of Famer the permanent head coach of the Canadiens was expected in the near future.

St. Louis, 45, was named interim head coach on Feb. 9 following the firing of Dominique Ducharme. Under St. Louis, the team posted a 14-19-4 mark, having been 8-30-7 before his arrival.

While St. Louis had served as a special teams consultant under John Tortorella with the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Canadiens job was the Laval, Que.'s first.

As a player, St. Louis appeared in 1,134 games over 16 seasons from 1998 to 2005 with the Calgary Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers. A six-time All-Star and 2004 Hart Trophy winner, St. Louis had 391 goals and 642 assists for his career.

Internationally, he was part of the gold medal-winning Canada squad at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.