Martin St. Louis Leads Early Jack Adams Trophy Race

Martin St. Louis enters the 2026-27 season with Montreal carrying more than a rebuilding-club label. The Canadiens have become a 106-point team, reached the Eastern Conference Final last spring and now have their coach sitting atop the first Jack Adams Award Trophy Tracker vote.

St. Louis received 58 points and seven first-place selections from a 16-member panel, placing him ahead of San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky, who collected 49 points. Washington Capitals coach Spencer Carbery finished third with 25 points.

Montreal’s climb has changed the temperature

1. St. Louis replaced Dominique Ducharme behind the Canadiens bench on Feb. 9, 2022.
2. In his first complete season, 2022-23, Montreal finished with 68 points.
3. The club rose to 76 points in 2023-24, then reached 91 in 2024-25.
4. Last season, the Canadiens posted 106 points before losing in five games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes in the 2026 Eastern Conference Final.
5. Montreal opened this campaign with an average age of 26.81, the sixth-youngest roster in the NHL through Tuesday.

The Canadiens have built a stronger expectation level around a young core, and St. Louis said the room has not shied away from it during camp.

“The players have welcomed those expectations,” St. Louis said Sept. 18. “What stands out to me is their approach on the ice. They look hungry not only in the work, but in their involvement and the discussions we are having.”

Two panelists also selected Montreal as their Stanley Cup pick, another marker of how far the club has moved since St. Louis took over.

A coach shaped by the long route

St. Louis is in his sixth season with Montreal and is now the NHL’s fourth-longest-serving coach. His coaching résumé was thin when he accepted the Canadiens job: he had worked as a special-teams consultant for the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2018-19 and coached the Mid Fairfield Rangers U13 AAA program in Greenwich, Connecticut, where his youngest son, Mason, played.

His playing career supplied the harder education. Listed at 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds, St. Louis went undrafted despite leading the NCAA with 48 assists and 71 points as a University of Vermont sophomore in 1994-95. The Calgary Flames later exposed him in the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft.

He eventually became a Stanley Cup winner with the 2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018. That path still informs the message he delivers to young players trying to turn a call-up into a permanent NHL job.

On Sept. 23, six days before the regular season began, St. Louis told players fighting for spots that progress comes from repeatedly resetting and handling the day in front of them.

“There is no magic formula,” he said. “It is steady work and discipline in the process. Playing one NHL game is one thing; becoming an everyday player is another level. A consistent process gives you a better chance to build a career.”

St. Louis also believes players need conviction, even when they have not yet fully proven themselves. He acknowledged that the competitive edge helped drive his own career and said it can help young players find their footing.

“With an honest mindset, there is nothing wrong with believing you are better than some people,” St. Louis said. “Without that, it can be difficult to establish yourself. Sometimes you need to think that way even before you have all the proof.”

Another 40-win season would put St. Louis in Canadiens company

Montreal is chasing a third straight 40-win season under St. Louis. If the Canadiens get there, he would become the sixth coach in franchise history to reach 200 victories.

St. Louis finished third in Jack Adams voting for 2024-25, behind Carbery and Winnipeg Jets coach Scott Arniel. This season’s early ballot puts him in front, with the Canadiens no longer simply trying to arrive ahead of schedule.

Jack Adams Trophy Tracker voting

The voting used a 5-4-3-2-1 points scale.