MONTREAL — Newsy Lalonde with the Montreal Canadiens just sounds right.

But this isn’t about the nickname originally given to Edward Lalonde, who dominated hockey with the Canadiens through the early 1900s. It’s about Derek ‘Newsy’ Lalonde bringing a wealth of experience to Martin St. Louis’ bench.

Lalonde started as an assistant coach at Ferris State University in 2003 and became one at the University of Denver in 2006. He climbed up to head coach of the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers in 2011, then to head coach of the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye in 2014, then to head coach of the AHL’s Iowa Wild in 2016 before joining Jon Cooper in Tampa from 2018 through 2022.

Lalonde won two Stanley Cups with the Lightning and then took over the Detroit Red Wings’ bench for two-and-a-half seasons before spending this past one next to Craig Berube on the Toronto Maple Leafs' bench. And now, after he was relieved of his duties by Toronto on Tuesday, he’s coming to Montreal to take over the role Trevor Letowski had been occupying since 2021.

Expect the Canadiens to announce the change in short order. It’s happening in part because Letwoski, who originally served as Dominique Ducharme’s assistant before becoming St. Louis’ consigliere in February of 2022, wants to spend more time with his family.

The Canadiens intend to keep Letowski in the organization in some capacity, and they’re thrilled to be bringing Lalonde into the fold.

It’s unclear at this point what the terms are of Lalonde’s deal with the Canadiens, but St. Louis and assistants Stephane Robidas and Alex Burrows all have contracts set to expire at the end of this coming season.

Extensions for them are likely coming between now and the start of the regular season.

Poker with Kirby Dach

“If you’re holding an ace, play it."

That’s how one agent we spoke with over the weekend categorized the nature of business in the NHL these days.

It was also a line we thought applied perfectly to Kirby Dach’s situation with the Canadiens.

Not that we’d suggest the Canadiens were dealt an ace when Dach........

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