Blues fire Drew Bannister, hire Jim Montgomery as new head coach
On Sunday, St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong announced the team has relieved Drew Bannister as the team’s head coach, hiring Jim Montgomery as the team new’s bench boss.
Wow. #stlblues have fired Drew Bannister and hired Jim Montgomery.
Montgomery returns to St. Louis, where he previously served as an assistant, just five days after being fired in Boston.
Montgomery becomes the 28th head coach in the history of the franchise. In addition, the Blues signed the 55-year-old to a five-year contract. Montgomery previously had ties to the team, working under current Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube as an assistant from 2020 to 2022.
Bannister was on the job for less than a year. He was promoted to interim head coach from his post with St. Louis’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, last December after the Blues fired Berube. Then, after a respectable push late last season, the team elected to take the interim tag off Bannister, officially naming him head coach this past May.
However, things have not gone as swimmingly for the Blues this year. Through 22 games, the team is 9-12-1, sitting sixth in the Central Division in winning percentage (.432), and is five points back of the Edmonton Oilers for the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
In 76 games under Bannister, the Blues went 39-31-6.
The timing of the decision is also peculiar. Montgomery was let go by the Boston Bruins just five days ago after the team’s topsy-turvy start to the 2024-25 season. It seemed that with a coach of Montgomery’s caliber, someone would add him to their staff sooner rather than later.
Granted, it was a surprise that Montgomery was even available on the market, despite the poor start–by Boston standards–it has been just over a year since he was awarded the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year after he guided the Bruins to the most wins in a regular season (65) in 2022-23.
In five years as a head coach in the NHL, including two behind the bench with the Dallas Stars, Montgomery is 180-84-33, going 120-41-23 with the Bruins. Of note, Montgomery’s teams have never made it past the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Blues are scheduled to face the New York Rangers on Monday night.