Jacques Martin to Coach Montreal; Mario Tremblay Back As Assistant?

After serving as the Florida Panthers general manager for the past four seasons (and head coach for three of those seasons) Jacques Martin will be named the new head coach of the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. During his four-year stint in charge of the Panthers, the team failed to make the playoffs each season, while he brings 14 years of head coaching experience to the Canadiens.

After a brief two-year tenure with the St. Louis Blues in the late 1980s, Martin took over the Ottawa Senators in 1995, leading the team to the playoffs eight times in nine years, while also winning three division titles and the Jack Adams award as coach of the year in 1999.

While his regular season record -- outside of Florida -- is very strong, his playoff record leaves a bit to be desired, advancing beyond the second round just once in 14 years. His teams have compiled a regular season record of 517-406-119-56.

Martin will be replacing the Guy Carbonneau/Bob Gainey two-headed monster behind the bench, as the Canadiens stumbled to an eighth-place finish in the Eastern Conference, while getting swept in the first round by the Boston Bruins. It was a disappointing season that saw the Canadiens enter as a favorite to represent the conference in the Stanley Cup Final.

This is the first of what will be many offseason moves in Montreal, as the team has 15 players headed to free agency (10 unrestricted, five restricted), including Alexei Kovalev, Alex Tanguay, Saku Koivu, Mike Komisarek, Mathieu Schneider, and Robert Lang.

Update: According to the Montreal Gazette, former Canadiens head coach Mario Tremblay may be returning to the team as an assistant coach.

According to CKAC's Martin McGuire, the French-radio play-by-play broadcaster who is very well plugged in, Mario Tremblay will be an assistant coach, with Jacques Lemaire a strong possibility as a special advisor.

Tremblay coached the Canadiens from 1995-1997, and was constantly feuding with Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy, eventually leading to Roy demanding a trade following a loss to the Detroit Red Wings. As an outsider, this is kind of humerous, seeing as how Carey Price's season ended with him bringing back memories of Roy's final game in Montreal by sarcastically saluting the fans, much like Roy did in his final game. It all comes full circle in Montreal.