Montgomery hired as Blues coach, replaces Bannister

Jim Montgomery was hired as coach of the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.

The 55-year-old replaces Drew Bannister, who was relieved of his duties. Montgomery signed a five-year contract with the Blues just five days after he was fired as Boston Bruins coach.

"This was more an opportunity to get someone of Jim's caliber more than anything else," Blues president of hockey operations and general manager Doug Armstrong said. "We've had to deal with our situations off the ice with injuries and everyone deals with that, but this decision was based, I would say, 100 percent on having someone of Jim's caliber becoming available when I didn't know that was going to happen."

Montgomery went 120-41-23 with the Bruins but got off to an 8-9-3 start this season and was fired by Boston on Nov. 19 and replaced by Joe Sacco. The Bruins went 65-12-5, the best single season record in NHL history, and had 135 points and an .823 points percentage in Montgomery's first season (2022-23), when he won the Jack Adams Award voted as the League's top coach.

"He certainly has a very positive demeanor, works well with the top players in the organizations that he's been with," Armstrong said. "I think he has a wealth of experience and he's at the prime of his coaching career now and we're the benefactors of that. I just think he's the full package, or at least we hope he's the full package."

Boston lost the 2023 Eastern Conference First Round in seven games to the Florida Panthers, who went on to the Stanley Cup Final, after holding a 3-1 series lead. The Bruins also led the best-of-7 first round 3-1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, then lost the next two games before prevailing 2-1 in overtime of Game 7. They lost the second round to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Panthers in six games.

The Blues have missed the playoffs the past two seasons. They won the Stanley Cup in 2019 by defeating the Bruins in seven games.

"Having Jim here now, I think he can coach a team that's evolving, and then coach a team that's evolved and ready to win," Armstrong said. "I think he has the ability to do that. It reminds me a little bit when we brought Ken [Hitchcock] in over a decade ago, an experienced coach that was coming into a team that was learning and working to grow.

"He was able to maximize that group, and I think that we continue to learn how to win and learn how to be competitive on a nightly basis, 'Monty' can push us all to be better and then when we get there, he can take us all to the promised land."

Montgomery also coached the Dallas Stars from 2018 until he was fired Dec. 10, 2019, going 60-43-10 in 114 games, and is 180-84-33 in 297 NHL games. He returns to St. Louis after being an assistant there for two seasons (2020-22) under Craig Berube.

As a player, Montgomery, a Montreal native, enjoyed a 12-year career, including stints in Germany, Russia and North America. He played 122 NHL regular-season games, including 67 with the Blues during his rookie season.

Armstrong said Montgomery's ability to get the most out of a team's top players is one of his biggest assets.

"Having that relationship with the top players is certainly a benefit for the coach," Armstrong said. "I think the top players also respond to coaching and his job is to get the best out of them, he's done that in the past. He's done it with players in Dallas, they had an excellent team there. He's done it with the guys in Boston and we feel he can do it here."

Bannister went 39-31-6 in 76 games as Blues coach after replacing Berube on Dec. 14, 2023. He went 93-58-19 as coach of Springfield in the American Hockey League and guided it to consecutive Calder Cup Playoff appearances, including the 2022 Calder Cup Final. He played 164 NHL regular-season games from 1995-2001 for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and New York Rangers. A defenseman, he was selected by the Lightning in the second round (No. 26) of the 1992 NHL Draft.

Bannister is the second coach to be fired this season.

"When I talked to Drew today, I told him this was more based on the availability of someone I think is a top NHL coach," Armstrong said, "someone that we have experience and someone that I really do believe can coach this team and coach the team when it reaches its ultimate level of competitiveness.

"He's done that, he's worked with younger players in the (United States Hockey League) and college, had good success in Dallas, good success in Boston, so he's one of those coaches I do believe can be with this team now and as it grows, I think the proof of that is the five-year commitment. One of the things, I think, is the next part for Jim's career is to get that longevity in one spot."

The Blues (9-12-1) are sixth in Central Division and 3-6-1 in their past 10 games after losing 3-1 at the New York Islanders on Saturday, and without defensemen Nick Leddy and Philip Broberg. Leddy (lower body) is on injured reserve and has not played since a 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild in St. Louis on Oct. 15. Broberg was projected to be out 4-6 weeks with a lower-body injury sustained in a 4-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 2.

"Our season to date has fluctuated," Armstrong said. "We're having a hard time on both ends of our special teams and scoring goals and that's obviously not a good recipe to have success. I think having Leddy and Broberg out at the same time is something that we have to deal with, and we've seen growth from certain players, but I think getting those two guys will help stabilize things."