From The Archive: Martin St. Louis

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Martin St. Louis - By Erik Erlendsson - Sep. 5, 2022

THE HOCKEY NEWS: When Calgary bought you out after 1999-2000, how did you end up signing with Tampa Bay?

MARTIN ST-LOUIS: It really came down between Dallas and Tampa. And Dallas was a pretty stacked team. They won the Cup in 1999, so in 2000, they were still pretty stacked versus the almost-last-place Lightning team. I felt going to the Lightning, I was probably going to have a better chance at cracking the lineup. So, that’s pretty much why I ended up in Tampa. I think I was a little intimidated with Dallas’ roster and my chance at playing NHL minutes.

THN: By your second season with Tampa Bay, you had established yourself as a regular in the top six, playing almost 20 minutes a night. But on the first shift in Pittsburgh on Jan. 23, 2002, you broke your leg. How worrisome was that injury when it happened?

MS: I got really nervous, because it’s the second year and I have to re-sign. I finally feel like I’ve established myself as a top-six guy. I’m on a bottom-tier team at that time, but I’m there, and I’m building my stock, so to speak. And all this hard work has paid off. And the patience and the grind has paid off. But then you break your leg, and it’s an era where small guys don’t really get the benefit of the doubt. And my speed is everything. My speed is my lifeline in this league. So now I might lose my speed?

So, yeah, it was sad. I think it was definitely a sad feeling about breaking my leg at the time where I think I was leading the team in scoring and set myself up for another contract that I knew wasn’t going to be the minimum. So that was, emotionally, it was a hard time, but I came back stronger, I feel.

THN: In 2003, the first playoff series victory in franchise history happened in the first-round against Washington. You scored the series-clinching goal with a triple-overtime winner, helping overcome an 0-2 series deficit. What do you remember about that type of watershed moment?

MS: We were on the power play…We were trying to set up, and Vinny Lecavalier gave it to me behind the net. And I’m like, I have an opening here, and I just took advantage of it. I have to slide the puck between my legs to get the puck to the front and turn around and roof it against Olaf Kolzig. And then the series is over, and the whole bench chases you down, chases you in the corner, which is an unbelievable feeling, obviously.

Scoring an overtime goal in the playoffs, it’s one of my favorite memories. And that first one to clinch the series against Washington, against a pretty stacked team. And they thought it was going to be easy; they beat us the first two games at home. Then we just started grinding it out, went to work and really, really showed a lot to ourselves, a lot of confidence doing that. It was a big, big building block for the next year.

THN: That next year, you score another memorable and meaningful goal, this time in double overtime in Calgary to tie up the Stanley Cup final at 3-3. What was that like to have your teammates once again chase you down as you kept the chase for the Cup alive?

WHEN I CAME TO TAMPA, I’M NOT THINKING I’M GOING TO WIN A CUP, BE AN NHL MVP AND GET MY JERSEY RETIRED. I WAS TRYING TO GET ANOTHER SHIFT.

MS: That was pretty cool. We have to win Game 6 to keep it alive, and in Calgary, the Cup is there. That’s pretty cool. Pretty cool moment. Because you win Game 6, you give yourself a chance, and now it’s going back home, and you’ve got the momentum. It felt unbelievable. I’ve scored some way nicer goals than that goal in my career, but that’s going to be the biggest goal I’ve ever scored. And you know as soon as you score it, that’s going to be your biggest goal, unless you do that in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. So, it was a surreal moment. It was a moment I’ll cherish and remember forever.

THN: While your departure from Tampa Bay might have been bittersweet, what did it mean to be able to come back to a warm reception when you had your No. 26 retired?

MS: It was hard to leave, no doubt about it. But I think by the time I came back, it was all, “We can’t do anything about it anymore.” I think they realized, “Wow, the Lightning are in a good place. This guy helped build that.” And let’s just enjoy the night and reflect on how much fun we had together, not how I left. So, for me, it was unbelievable. Not in a million years, when I came to Tampa, did I think that could happen. When I came here, I’m not thinking I’m going to win a Cup, be an NHL MVP and get my jersey retired. I was trying to get another shift. I was trying to better myself. Maybe I don’t make league-minimum. Maybe I’m on a third line, but I just kept going, and it ended up being that. And it was such an honor and so flattering to have that night to get recognized, to have an organization think you had such an impact they want to make it a forever thing.

THN: And you are the first player to establish their career and make their mark with the Lightning to then be elected to the Hall of Fame. What sort of honor is that?

MS: It’s a little bit of the same feeling of that jersey being retired, now just a little bit on steroids, so to speak, because it’s not just one organization that thinks you have such an impact on it, now it’s a whole league; it’s a whole committee that thinks you had an impact not just on the organization but on the league as a whole with what you did. So it’s very similar, but an unbelievable honor and, again, a forever thing.