Martin St. Louis took over as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens midway through the 2021-22 season, meaning he didn’t lead the team through the preseason. This resulted in a 2-4-1 record in seven games, and the team was also outscored 25-16.
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They finished seventh in the Atlantic Division, only edging the Buffalo Sabres, who had the same record but fewer regulation wins.
Having an entire offseason to prepare for the 2022-23 pre-season campaign, which featured first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky attending his first camp, the Canadiens somehow performed worse.
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On top of finishing at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, they tied the Arizona Coyotes as the only teams to fail to secure a win in the preseason. They finished 0-6-2, with a goal differential of minus-13, surrendering a league-high 31 goals.
Cole Caufield led the team in scoring with four points in three games thanks to three goals and an assist.
After bottoming out in 2022-23, Montreal improved with a 3-3-0 record last year, getting outscored by only a single goal, 20-19. They finish in fifth in the Atlantic Division with six points.
Surprisingly, the Canadiens were the only team in their group to play only six games, with everyone skating in seven or eight. Captain Nick Suzuki led the team in scoring with seven points (two goals and five helpers) in four contests.
As St. Louis guides the Canadiens into his third preseason as head coach, he’s amassed a 3-9-2 record, with his teams getting outscored 51-37.
Fans across several sports leagues say the preseason doesn’t matter and does not indicate things to come. However, in the past two seasons, with St. Louis behind the bench for all 82 games, Montreal has won the fifth-fewest games (61) with a goal differential of minus-127.
Statistics used in this article were obtained from ESPN and Fox Sports.
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