Montreal Canadiens announce the hiring of Martin St. Louis' former coach

Roger Grillo, who coached St. Louis during his college years at the University of Vermont, has joined the Canadiens as a coach consultant and will be part of St. Louis' staff immediately. Grillo brings years of coaching experience and has also worked as a Director of Player Development with USA Hockey.

In addition to Grillo's hiring, the Canadiens have made several other changes to their Hockey Operations Department. Albie O'Connell has been promoted to Chief North American Scout, Tommy Lehman is now Chief European Scout, and Matt Ryan has joined as a Pro Scout. Other changes include Dale Lablans being promoted to Head of Performance, Stéphane Gervais hired as Strength and Conditioning Coach, and Mitch Freeburn taking over as the Laval Rocket's Strength Coach.

As the Canadiens continue their rebuild, they hope these staff changes will help develop their young players and push for a playoff spot this season. Martin St. Louis is seen as the coach capable of getting the best out of the team's young talent, and he'll need to continue that momentum to achieve success in 2024-25.