Kent Hughes: Martin St-Louis must learn to delegate better

It’s often forgotten because the Habs’ core is so young, but Martin St-Louis is also a young coach in the NHL.

He had no big-league coaching experience when he took the helm of the Habs.

Since then, he has grown with his team and seems to be in control of his players. But what does he need to work on to be a better coach?

This question was posed by 98.5 host Yannick Bouchard to Kent Hughes during an interview.

News interview with Kent Hughes | “For players, when hockey goes well, life goes well” https://t.co/m6WoM9Doa7

– 98.5 FM (@le985fm) October 16, 2024

The general manager’s response was quite interesting.

“Delegate. We know that Martin (St-Louis) is a hard worker, but as a coach, you can’t do everything. You have to trust the people around you and allow them to do things. Martin is such a hard worker, he wants to do everything” – Kent Hughes

It’s quite interesting, because it’s no surprise that St-Louis is recognized as a hard worker. However, in 2024-2025, he has even more responsibility than last year, which goes against Hughes’ words.

He’s now in charge of the powerplay himself, rather than leaving it to an assistant coach.

He wants to put his stamp on the team, but as Hughes said, he has to be able to trust the people around him. In the end, it’s really a team effort to get the team to the top.

So the question is: does Kent Hughes have too much on his shoulders right now?

Personally, the answer is no, for now.

The Habs aren’t aiming for the Stanley Cup just yet, and Martin St-Louis’ role is to help each player grow individually. The pressure to succeed is not immense, and he can take it.

It’s when the team has to win that the situation becomes different. In Montreal, people are ruthless in this type of context, and at that point, he’ll have to delegate appropriately.