St-Louis eager to 'solidify the culture' at training camp

MONTREAL -- Head coach Martin St-Louis met the media via Zoom after signing a three-year contract extension.

The Hall of Famer officially became the 32nd bench boss in franchise history.
Here are a few highlights from his press conference:
St-Louis on the significance of a three-year deal in terms of accomplishing his objectives:
It gives our group time to build something. It won't happen overnight, but I believe we're on the upswing given the way we played the last two or three months of the season. We won't be starting from scratch. We'll take things one step at a time and continue to move forward.
St-Louis on starting the season on equal footing with every other team:
Standings-wise, we're all starting from the same point. We'll see what kind of team we have in September. I'm letting management do their job over the summer. I'm going to prepare for training camp, so I can prepare my team to start the season on the right foot. I'm going to set reachable expectations and realistic goals. I still don't know what the team is going to look like in September, but I'm excited to continue pushing the group in the right direction and sticking to the plan.

St-Louis on teaching youngsters and being patient from a results standpoint:
I'm going to continue building the culture and the way we want to play. I'm going to give the young players confidence and a platform to continue their development. If we focus on the process, success will be a side effect. You have to be cautious, though, especially when you have a young team. Winning is obviously very important, but we want to build a team that's going to enjoy success year and year. That can take some time. If the plan is to always win the next game, maybe you'll win a few more games, but that's just short-term success. We want to continue the process to build a culture, an environment where the team will make the playoffs year after year and the players will have individual success and reach their ceilings. If we do that year after year, the players will be in an environment where they can make the playoffs and win when it counts.
St-Louis on the playoffs being a realistic expectation next season:
As a player, I always started a season with the goal to make the playoffs. Is it realistic to have that goal? Yes, it is, but the expectations must be realistic in terms of where we are as an organization, the players that we have, and the development that we'd like to achieve. I'm putting a lot of importance on our preparation for training camp and being ready to play the first game. We'll have short-term goals. It's not really something I can put a finger on come October when we start the season, but things could progress. I don't know if we'll take small steps or big steps, but my goal is to continue making steps forward.

St-Louis on possibly making changes to his coaching staff:
I don't think so, but we'll see. It's not my goal to change my staff. We'll see what happens over the next two months. I don't intend to let any of my assistant coaches go. Could we bring someone in? Maybe. I still don't know yet, though.
St-Louis on his overall expectations for the 2022-23 campaign:
I still don't know yet. I don't know what players will be here in September. Things will get a little clearer over the next few months with the Draft, free agency, and the salary cap. We'll see.

St-Louis on starting fresh at training camp:
The first thing is solidifying the culture. That's the most important thing. That involves a lot of things. It involves attitude and work ethic. From a concept and systems standpoint, we aren't starting from scratch, but there will be new people, so we'll need to integrate them. We'll need to build on the things that we did last season. We'll manage that day by day. I think we have eight preseason games, so that's a pretty busy training camp. But, the most important thing at training camp is to continue building the culture.
St-Louis on why he believes he's a good coach:
I don't think I've proven myself to be a good coach yet. I think I feel like when I came into the League - and I knew I had the ability to be a good player in this League - but it took me some time to prove to people that yeah, I could execute in this League. I think as a coach, I feel the same way. I think I have experience and qualities that I think can make me a good coach. But, my actions, the way I succeed, will speak for itself. But, I believe in my own experience as a player: being a call-up, a guy in the American League, a scratch in the NHL, a fourth-liner, a third-liner, an All-Star, a penalty killer, a power play guy, I feel like I've been in many situations that I think are so valuable in terms of experience in this League. I think I understand my bench. It feels like everybody on my roster, I think I know how they feel, because I felt everything they felt based on where they were on a depth chart or whatnot. I think the fact that I was able to play for a long time, I think I was able to be exposed to many different coaches, different situations on the ice. I've always been a student of the game, and I feel I absorbed a lot of that. And now, it's to try to teach that. And so for me, I think I have the abilities to possibly be a good coach, just like I was as a player, and now I have to prove it. And, I'm looking forward to that.

St-Louis on what he learned last year that will help him at training camp:
You've got to be careful to not try and fix three or four things at a time. You really have to work on one concept, and then once you feel that's been grasped, you move on to the next one. You still have to touch on the one before and the one before. I felt that I did that when I came in, and I have to do that again, just don't give them too much information, don't try to overcoach, and don't try to control so many things that are going to happen on the ice. I need to try to give directions and teach them one at a time, and not too fast, just so the players don't feel overwhelmed and don't feel like they're over-thinking on the ice. The X's and O's are part of it, but there's more to hockey and success on the ice than that, and I have to manage that.
St-Louis on focusing on player development, so winning isn't necessarily the top priority:
I think I'll always have that pressure [to win], my own internal pressure. I don't like to lose. But, do I want to win in the short-term, like mindset, goals, so to speak, at the price of not developing the young guys that are going to help you win for years? No. I don't want to risk that. I want to have the young guys, the prospects, the players that are here now reach their full potential, and sometimes you've got to put those guys on the ice and make them feel confident on the ice. In the short-term, does that help you not win as many games? I don't know, but I'm not going to go into the season and just think about 'I have to win every game at the price of not developing the young guys.' I'm not doing that. If I develop the guys the way I know I can, and have them reach their full potential, winning is just going to be a side effect of what we're doing. Once you get that, you sustain success for a long time.