Blues Fire Drew Bannister, Name Jim Montgomery As New Head Coach

The St. Louis Blues have cut ties with coach Drew Bannister and hired Jim Montgomery, the recently let-go Bruins head coach and 2022-23 Jack Adams Award recipient.

In what many will describe as a shocking move, the St. Louis Blues fired coach Drew Bannister Sunday and hired former Dallas Stars and Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery to be their new bench boss. The move comes only five days after Boston fired Montgomery, and it removes Bannister after less than seven months on the job as the Blues’ official coach.

Bannister initially was hired as interim coach on Dec. 23, 2023, after Craig Berube was fired, and Bannister was given the permanent coach title on May 8, 2024. Bannister had a 30-19-5 record in 54 games in 2023-24, and in the current season, Bannister compiled a 9-12-1 mark, giving him a career NHL coaching record of 39-31-6. The 50-year-old Canadian previously coached in the OHL and AHL, including for St. Louis’ AHL affiliate in Springfield, Mass.

With this latest move, St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong underscores his reputation as a cold-blooded team-builder. He surprised the hockey world last summer by offer-sheeting a pair of Edmonton Oilers players. But few people in the hockey world expected Armstrong would change coaches so soon.

The Blues won four of their first six games this season, but since then, they’ve gone 5-10-1 and lost seven of their past nine games. It’s clear Armstrong was troubled by what he saw from Bannister’s Blues, and the opportunity to snap up Montgomery before another team did was too compelling for Armstrong to pass on the coach who was fired by Boston after the Bruins stumbled out to an 8-9-3 record this season.

Montgomery has an impressive career NHL coaching record of 180-84-33 record across four-and-a-quarter seasons split between the Bruins and Stars. After the Bruins fired him, colleagues including Berube expressed their dismay that Montgomery was dismissed so fast. But less than a full week after Boston fired him, Montgomery and his excellent reputation led to St. Louis moving quickly to install him behind their bench.

Montgomery’s first game as Blues coach comes Monday in Manhattan against the New York Rangers, followed by a game Wednesday in New Jersey against the Devils. Armstrong clearly wants his Blues team to contend for a playoff spot this season, and while St. Louis is currently only five standings points out of a playoff position in the Central Division, they needed to turn things around sooner than later, and that’s now Montgomery’s immediate challenge as he begins his time with the team.

Time will tell whether Armstrong’s decision was the right one, but obviously, the status quo was unacceptable for him, and Bannister paid the price for it with his job. Montgomery is now the driving force for the Blues’ bench as they attempt to salvage their season.

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