Martin St. Louis

Martin St. Louis (French spelling Martin St-Louis, ; born June 18, 1975) is a former professional ice hockey player and current head coach of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL).

As a youth, St. Louis played in the 1988 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Laval, Quebec.

He was passed over for a provincial team at a midget age tournament despite leading his league in scoring.

He played one season of junior ice hockey with the Hawkesbury Hawks of the Central Junior Hockey League (CJHL) in 1992–93 where he scored 37 goals and 87 points in just 31 games.

St. Louis was listed at 5 ft tall in college.

He often struggled to gain recognition for his ability, while teams showed little interest in him.

He was heavily recruited by National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) schools to play for their programs, however.

The University of Vermont Catamounts convinced St. Louis to join their hockey program.

He had 51 points in 33 games in his freshman season of 1993–94 and was named to the East Coast Athletic Conference's All-Rookie Team.

In his sophomore season (1994–95), St. Louis was among the top scorers in the NCAA.

He had 71 points in 35 games and was named both an ECAC First Team All-Star and NCAA All-American for the first of three consecutive seasons.

Additionally, he was named the ECAC Player of the Year.

Named team captain for his junior season, St. Louis scored 85 points in 35 games.

He tied friend and teammate Éric Perrin for the NCAA scoring lead and the pair, along with goaltender Tim Thomas, led the Catamounts to the first ECAC hockey championship in school history.

A standout player in college for the Vermont Catamounts, St. Louis earned East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) all-American honors for three consecutive seasons between 1995 and 1997 and was named the ECAC Player of the Year in 1995.

As a professional, St. Louis played in six All-Star Games.

Named an all-star at the 1996 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, St. Louis scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Lake Superior State to reach the Frozen Four.

The Catamounts lost the national semi-final to Colorado College, 4–3, in double overtime.

A finalist for the Hobey Baker Award for the first of two consecutive seasons, St. Louis earned interest from National Hockey League (NHL) teams in the summer of 1996.

Teams offered signing bonuses of up to $150,000 hoping to convince him to leave Vermont and turn professional.

Believing he could attract similar offers the following year, he chose to complete his final year of college eligibility.

His offensive numbers slipped in 1996–97 as he scored 59 points in 36 games.

St. Louis finished as Vermont's all-time leading scorer with 267 points, a record he continues to hold as of 2023, as well as his school mark of 176 assists.

He won the J. Edward Donnelly Award as the top male senior athlete at the University of Vermont in 1997 and was named to the ECAC's all-decade team of the 1990s.

An undrafted player, St. Louis played a total of 1,134 games, scoring 391 goals and 1,033 points in an NHL career that began with the Calgary Flames in 1998 and ended with the New York Rangers in 2015.

He was voted the recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Award and Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player as chosen by the players and league respectively in 2003–04, also winning his first Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer with 94 points.

St. Louis has on three occasions won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most gentlemanly player.

He has also led the NHL in assists in two different seasons (2003–04 and 2012–13).

Internationally, St. Louis has played for Canada on several occasions.

He is best remembered for having played with the Tampa Bay Lightning and was a member of the Lightning's 2004 Stanley Cup championship team.

St. Louis also briefly played with HC Lausanne of the Swiss National League A.

He was a member of the team that won the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and is a two-time silver medalist at the World Championships; he was named a tournament all-star after leading the 2009 event in scoring with 15 points.

The University of Vermont inducted him into its athletics Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2012 he was presented with the school's Alumni Achievement Award.

In 2013, at age 37, he won his second Art Ross Trophy, becoming the oldest player to ever lead the NHL in scoring.

A two-time Olympian, St. Louis was a member of Canada's gold medal-winning team at the 2014 Winter Games.

St. Louis was born in Laval, Quebec, to Normand and France St. Louis.

He has a sister, Isabelle.

On January 8, 2016, the University of Vermont retired his jersey number 8 at Gutterson Fieldhouse in front of a sold-out crowd.

He was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018; his first year of eligibility.

St. Louis is widely considered one of the best undrafted players of all time.