Why Canadiens’ Martin St. Louis has no emotion attached to Lightning despite MVP career

The Montreal Canadiens are back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And they will take on one of the East’s most successful teams over the last decade. Head coach Martin St. Louis will lead his group into battle against a team all too familiar to him: the Tampa Bay Lightning.

St. Louis played 16 seasons in the NHL from 1998-99 to 2014-15. 13 of his 16 seasons were spent with the Lightning. During his time in Tampa, he won the Hart Memorial Trophy as MVP in 2004. And in that same season, he won the franchise’s first Stanley Cup after scoring 24 points in 23 games.

However, any conflicting emotion is completely out the window. St. Louis spoke with the press on Friday ahead of Game 1. And he made it clear that all his emotional investment is in the Canadiens and their success.

“I don’t have any emotion attached to the Lightning right now. Zero,” St. Louis said, via NHL.com. “Honestly, I think I’m so far removed from that. You know, I think it’s my fourth (full) year now (with Montreal). I’ve gone to the building plenty of times. I think the first time I went, yeah, it was a little weird. But I’m so far removed from that.”

St. Louis remains one of the greatest players in Lightning franchise history. In fact, his No. 26 jersey is retired and in the rafters at Benchmark International Arena. He is third in franchise history for most career points, trailing Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos.

None of that matters now, though. The Canadiens and Lightning are both chasing a Stanley Cup. And St. Louis is tasked with guiding Montreal to the Stanley Cup Final. Game 1 takes place on Sunday evening at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida.

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