LAVAL, Quebec (AP) — The Montreal Canadiens have signed coach Martin St. Louis to a multiyear extension.
The team announced the deal Monday without revealing how long St. Louis is now under contract.
St. Louis, 51, has guided the upstart Canadiens to consecutive playoff berths, including a trip last year’s Eastern Conference final, after beginning his tenure during a full-scale rebuild.
Montreal hired St. Louis in on an interim basis following Dominique Ducharme’s dismissal in February 2022, taking on his first-ever role behind an NHL bench after previously coaching at the youth level.
A Hall of Fame winger as a player, he had the interim tag removed at the end of that season.
St. Louis has a 163-155-47 record entering his sixth season as Canadiens coach. He was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2025, after leading the Canadiens to the playoffs for the first time since the 2020-21 season. Montreal, at the time the youngest team in the league, was eliminated in the first round by the Washington Capitals.
“Marty has done a terrific job leading our young team,” Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes said in a statement. “He is a great communicator and teacher. We look forward to his continued efforts to mold this group into a championship-caliber team.”
Inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018, St. Louis totaled 1,033 points before retiring in 2015.
His most decorated season was in 2003-04, when he won the Hart Trophy as league MVP, the Art Ross trophy as leading scorer with 94 points and helped the Tampa Bay Lightning win the Stanley Cup.
Chris Kreider has skated onto the Bell Centre ice to a chorus of boos for most of his career. That, he hopes, is about to change after signing a one-year contract with the Canadiens on Saturday.
“Pretty amazing, pretty iconic logo,” Kreider said Monday as he walked to the podium with the Canadiens’ crest stitched on his chest at Montreal's season-opening golf tournament. It’s not just a sport here. It’s a religion.”
Kreider has been on the receiving end of that fervor for more than a decade, gaining villain status in 2014 when the then-New York Rangers winger crashed into Carey Price and knocked the star goalie out of the Eastern Conference final.
Montreal’s fury, however, never gave Kreider pause when the Canadiens came calling aggressively with an offer, after he agreed to mutually terminate his contract with salary cap-strapped Anaheim to move back East, closer to family.
“Montreal was pretty aggressive right out of the gate, and obviously there’s several connections to my time spent in New York, so there’s a familiarity there,” Kreider said, before listing more reasons for his signing. “Everything that they’re doing here and have been doing for a few years now, the culture that they’ve built, the group that they have.”
St. Louis being behind the bench was a big influence. He and Kreider played together on the same line more than a decade ago with the Rangers
“Super wise, incredibly smart,” Kreider said. “I don’t think I can say that I’ve learned more from any one individual than the time that I spent playing with him on his line.”
St. Louis, meanwhile, will coach a former teammate for the first time. He said he’s glad it’s Kreider.
“To me it’s simple,” St. Louis said. “You look at our club, what do we need? Well, we need probably a little more experience; he checks that box. We need a little more sandpaper, checks that box. Net-front guy, checks that box.”
See AP’s full NHL coverage here
FILE - Anaheim Ducks left wing Chris Kreider skates during an NHL hockey game against the Seattle Kraken, Feb. 3, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky returned to the Senate to vote on Monday for the first time in three months, noticeably more frail after he was hospitalized for a June fall in his home.
McConnell's lengthy absence from the Senate generated a flood of criticism and online speculation, as he initially remained quiet for weeks about his condition. The 84-year-old senator eventually disclosed that he had been “briefly unconscious” due to the fall and had also been treated for mild pneumonia in the hospital.
He briefly addressed reporters from a wheelchair outside the Senate chamber ahead of the vote, smiling but speaking slowly and with some difficulty. McConnell joked that he wasn’t sure how many reporters would be there after dodging so many questions during his almost two decades as leader.
He said he was back in the Senate to work on a pending farm bill and because he has an ongoing interest in NATO and “backing up our good friends who are totally in the fight against the Russians.”
Reporters and photographers were told by Senate staff not to take video of his remarks in the second-floor hallway, even though video is often permitted in that area. Still images were allowed.
In a statement issued before his remarks, McConnell said that “my recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier."
“I’m still not quite back to 100%, but I’ve assured Leader Thune that, as I continue with physical therapy on the advice of my doctors, I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me.”
The concerns over McConnell’s absence highlighted increasing public concern about the age of lawmakers and their capacity to carry out their duties. Speculation about his condition grew so intense at one point that Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear took the extraordinary step of issuing a public letter asking McConnell to update the public in a “transparent manner.”
McConnell’s absence was also felt over the summer as Republicans were unable to advance a farm bill out of committee. His return could give GOP leaders a needed vote as they try to advance legislation on cryptocurrency regulation and college sports.
McConnell, who holds the distinction of being the longest-serving Senate leader, is in his final months of his four decades in office. He is retiring at the end of January after one of the most consequential careers in modern politics.
Republicans have nominated U.S. Rep. Andy Barr to replace him, while Democrats have nominated former state lawmaker Charles Booker. McConnell said he is determined to finish out his term.
McConnell had polio in his early childhood and has long acknowledged difficulty as an adult in walking and climbing stairs.
The physician’s office in Congress in the July statement said McConnell has “experienced several falls through the year” due to his “post-polio condition.” The office said his physical therapy was aimed at reducing the risk of him falling again.
“A comprehensive evaluation by a multidisciplinary team determined that he had no fractures, cardiac abnormalities, stroke, tumor, or hemorrhage,” the physician’s office said.
McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and was the Republican leader from 2007 until last year, serving as both majority and minority leader during that period. He has remained active as a rank-and-file senator, showing up for work when the chamber is in session, often using a wheelchair to get around.
But the senator’s physical condition has visibly declined in recent years.
He was hospitalized with a concussion in March 2023 and missed several weeks of work after falling in a Washington hotel. He twice froze up during news conferences after he returned, staring vacantly ahead before colleagues and staff. A year later, he fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a GOP luncheon.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., arrives at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., arrives at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
FILE - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., offers remarks following the Senate Republicans policy luncheon at the Capitol, July 30, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)
