Habs Hire Jacques Martin As New Head Coach

02/06/2009 06:46

The Montreal Canadiens began their offseason moves with a bang on Monday, as general manager Bob Gainey announced that the club has hired Jacques Martin as their new head coach.

Montreal will be Martin's fourth NHL stop as head coach after working for the St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators and holding the head coach and general manager positions for the Florida Panthers. The Canadiens also announced that goaltending coach Roland Melanson would not be returning next season.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to join this organization," Martin told a news conference in Montreal. "When you look at the players who are in the organization, there is a strong nucleus, a strong base, to build a winning team and I'm really looking forward with excitement to leading this team next year."

The move reunites Martin with assistant general manager Pierre Gauthier and head of amateur scouting Trevor Timmins from their time together with the Senators.

"I really believe this organization is rich in people and that is a very important ingredient," said Martin. "We had the opportunity to discuss at length, to talk about philosophy, talk about operations, talk about players, talk about the league. I was really excited by those conversations with Bob. It's good chemistry."

It also marks the first time since 1992-93 that the Canadiens have formally hired a coach with NHL experience. The team hired former Blues and Red Wings coach Jacques Demers that season, and have since hired first-timers Mario Tremblay, Alain Vigneault, Michel Therrien, Claude Julien and Guy Carbonneau.

The Canadiens were in the market for a new coach after the club fired Carbonneau in March. General Manager Bob Gainey took over as interim head coach for the second time in his tenure with the club, guiding the team to an eighth-place finish and a first-round exit at the hands of the Boston Bruins.

Martin spent five years with the Panthers after joining the club in May 2004 as the team's head coach. He served as the coach for three seasons and assumed the duties as general manager in 2006. Last May, Martin agreed to a contract extension to remain as general manager through the 2011-2012 season.

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SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:

I guess Martin has the most important prerequisite for coaching the Montreal Canadiens – he parlez vous francais.