John Tortorella shares his unfiltered take on Martin St. Louis as a head coach.

The Montreal Canadiens made a surprise move this week when general manager Kent Hughes announced that he would be firing head coach Dominique Ducharme and hiring former National Hockey League star Martin St. Louis to replace him.

The decision to fire Ducharme was a surprise in its own right given that the Canadiens have lost arguably their two best players in Shea Weber and Carey Price to long term injury, and as a result have very little hope of being a truly competitive team this season. The fact that the Canadiens waited this late into the season to make the move, with the team well out of the playoff picture, also made it somewhat strange. Hiring St. Louis on top of all this, a former player with no head coaching experience at any serious level, made it a move that very few could have predicted.

The move has been criticized by many who are on the outside looking in, but recently former NHL head coach John Tortorella shared his unfiltered thoughts on the decision by the Canadiens to hire St. Louis, a man that he himself has coached as a player during their time with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and has worked with as a coach during their time together in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization.

Not only did Tortorella refrain from being critical of the Canadiens decision, but he actually sung the praises of St. Louis as a coach and as a leader citing the fact that the only reason St. Louis had not received more NHL coaching experience were due to his self-imposed commitments as a father.

"This is something, and I think people need to understand, Marty has thought about this for a while," said Tortorella. "It's not like it just came out of nowhere, he wanted to be with his kids he wanted to develop his kids as far as players and I respect him for that, but he's always listened, he's watched, Marty is a student about everything. He's prepared."

The only thing that Tortorella would not disclose publicly was the conversation he had with St. Louis following the announcement of his role as the new Canadiens head coach, but he once again reiterated his belief in him as a leader.

"He's prepared," said Tortorella. "I'm not gonna share too much of our conversation yesterday but he is ready to go and he is gonna bring instant accountability into that locker room. He will demand that."

Tortorella cited his force of will as one of the main factors for why he believes in St. Louis moving forward as an NHL head coach.

"He is a guy that has more will than anybody I have ever coached, and he will instill that in his players."

Tortorella even went on to admit that he once tried to get St. Louis on his coaching staff, but added that St. Louis' commitment to his family prevented that from becoming a reality.

"I tried to get him there, he didn't want to leave his kids," said Tortorella.

If you would like to hear Tortorella's full comments on his former player taking on the latest challenge in his NHL career, you can check out the short clip below.