Martin St. Louis and the Power of Faith with the Canadiens – Hockey Writer – Montreal Canadiens
It’s rare that you hear an analyst like Garry Galley truly happy with the team. But that’s what happened when he talked about the Montreal Canadiens recently. According to him, the Canadiens are a young, confident team that’s starting to look like something bigger than a rebuilding project, and he’s not alone.
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In the video below, Galli’s takeaway is simple and old: Success builds on itself. Once a young team like Montreal gets a real taste of victory, everything changes. The Canadiens have moved beyond moral victory and achieved real, tangible growth. They’re no longer sneaking up on teams – they’re earning success. They did this while playing hockey, feeling free, creative and fearless.
Canadiens are playing with ‘house money’ – but that’s not the case
Galli described the Canadiens as if they were playing with casino money. This is a good analogy, but not entirely correct. The truth is, they deserve every bit they get. This illusion of relaxation comes from confidence, not luck. The players looked relaxed because they trusted their coach, their system and each other.
Head coach Martin St. Louis deserves most of the credit. He gave his team an identity. Not by imposing rigid systems or fear-based accountability, but by building trust. As Galli puts it, St. Louis “doesn’t listen to the noise from the outside.” That’s no small thing in a city like Montreal, where every shift is scrutinized and every recession feels like a crisis.
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Instead of reacting to the headlines, St. Louis filters the noise, interprets it, and turns it into something useful. His players know exactly where they stand. He gave them the freedom to make mistakes, but he also set quiet expectations—standards that were felt, not declared.
Canadiens’ young players are coming of age
That’s why this version of the Canadiens is different than what fans saw two years ago. These young talents—guys like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kayden Gurler, and Juraj Slavkovski—not only possess flashy skills; They are learning the subtleties of the game. Galley noted that some of them “started developing great 200-foot games.” It’s not just development – it’s culture.
You can feel a maturity creeping in. The Canadiens still make mistakes, but they recover faster. They fight for each other. This shared commitment transforms potential into performance.
Canadiens’ goaltending story surprises
Galli also pointed to one of the quietest success stories of the season: Samuel Montebio’s goaltending. Once considered a stopgap, he has now become a stabilizer. While Montebault’s season was far from perfect, St. Louis treated him like a true No. 1 player. He was not coddled, but trusted. This trust is important. As Galli said, “You lose a game, you lose – I probably would have lost. But Marty wouldn’t do that.”
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This is another example of how faith can spread in a room. The calmness in St. Louis has become contagious. His players know that one bad game doesn’t define them. That’s how you build consistency—and that’s what the team ultimately displays.
What are Canadians really building?
What’s going on here is beyond the scope of the system or statistics. The Canadiens are developing emotional intelligence as a hockey team — learning how to win, lose and learn without panicking. This is what turns Reconstruction into Rise.
Montreal may not be deep in the playoffs this season, but they are learning the habits of teams that do end up there. They are interesting because they care, and they care because their coaches teach them that faith is also a skill. This is the story label department: Belief, build one transformation at a time.
