Martin St-Louis’ absence: more developments to come in the next few days

It’s been ten days since the Canadiens announced that Martin St-Louis had returned to his family for personal reasons. His absence is indefinite.

Since then, the Habs have picked up three points (1-2-1) out of a possible eight in four games in his absence. The Flames, Oilers, Canucks and Kraken were on the menu in the last few days.

The Avalanche will be tomorrow’s opponent, in the final game of the trip.

The Habs haven’t always looked good, but at least they found a way to win yesterday. It was a first with Trevor Letowski as boss behind the bench.

And Letowski doesn’t want to take all the credit for last night’s W.

The next few games won’t be easy, for those who were wondering. Colorado is on the menu Tuesday before the Flyers, Hurricanes, Panthers, Lightning and Maple Leafs visit the Bell Centre.

The Rangers, Flyers, Islanders, Senators and Red Wings (twice in a row) are also on the menu to end the season. It’s no coincidence that the team has one of the toughest schedules in the NHL between now and the end of the season.

The question is: how many of these 12 games will be played with Martin St-Louis behind the bench?

After all, since we don’t know how his guy is doing, it’s hard to assess the situation, and it’s hard to know where the Habs stand on the issue for the end of the season.

This morning, on BPM Sports, Renaud Lavoie spoke about the situation and mentioned that, in his opinion (not necessarily based on information), we should expect an update this week.

Will the team (if it does) do so when it returns to Montreal? Before that? Who knows.

It’s important to remember that the less the Habs say, the more it opens the door to speculation. That’s true for a more personal situation like Martin St-Louis, and it’s true for a more public one like Shohei Ohtani, for example.

For those following the case of the Los Angeles Dodgers star and his former translator, the Dodgers’ preferred hitter is expected to speak to the media today.

Overtime

– LTIR to the rescue of the Golden Knights.

– Josh Doan with the Coyotes.

– Playing for one team: important for Sidney Crosby? [TSN 690]

– What do you think?