Photo: NESN
The St. Louis Blues announced on Sunday that they fired head coach Drew Bannister and replaced him with Jim Montgomery, who signed a five-year contract with the club and was axed from the same position by the Boston Bruins this past Tuesday.
The Bruins have fired 3 consecutive Jack Adams winners, who have all been scooped up within 8 days of being fired 😳 pic.twitter.com/AANenOmbR9
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 24, 2024
A 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday night dropped St. Louis, who missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of the past two seasons after making it for four straight and 10 of the previous 11 years, to 9-12-1 (.432 points percentage) this season, which places them sixth in the Central Division. They are currently five points behind the Colorado Avalanche (who have a game in hand) and Edmonton Oilers (both them and St. Louis have played 22) for the wild-card spots in the Western Conference.
St. Louis currently ranks 30th in the NHL this season in goals-per-game (2.36), 25th in both goals-against per game (3.36) and power-play efficiency (.167), and 24th in penalty-killing efficiency (.759).
Montgomery served as an assistant on Craig Berube’s staff behind St. Louis’ bench from 2020-22 before getting hired by Boston.
Montgomery began his coaching career in the college ranks, including roles as an assistant at Notre Dame and R.P.I. He then moved on to take the head position with the Dubuque Fighting Saints, where he captured the USHL’s Clark Cup in two of his three seasons with the team (2011, 2013). In 2013, Montgomery took over at the University of Denver where he spent five seasons and led the team to the 2017 NCAA National Championship.
As a player, Montgomery enjoyed a 12-year career, including stints in Germany, Russia and North America. He appeared in 122 NHL regular-season games, including 67 with the Blues during his rookie season.
Boston fell to the eventual Eastern Conference Champion Florida Panthers in each of Montgomery’s first two seasons, including in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs despite leading 3-1 in the series, 3-2 with a minute left in Game 7, and breaking the NHL regular-season record with 65 wins and 135 points, respectively. Last season, they blew a 3-1 series lead to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round and trailed 1-0 with less than 10 minutes left in Game 7 before winning, 2-1, in overtime.
Boston went 120-41-23 (.715 points percentage) in the regular season under Montgomery, who won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year for the 2022-23 season. Their 120 wins and .715 points percentage since the start of the 2022-23 season both lead the league.
In 298 regular-season games with Boston and the Dallas Stars, Montgomery’s teams have gone 180-84-33 (.659 points percentage). However, the teams went 16-17 (.485) in the postseason with him behind the bench. Dallas fell to the eventual champion Blues in double overtime of Game 7 in the second round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs with Montgomery leading their team.
After replacing Berube in St. Louis on an interim basis last season, Bannister went 39-31-6 (.553) and earned the full-time job after leading the Blues to a 30-19-5 finish last season.
Boston replaced Montgomery with Joe Sacco on an interim basis in the only other NHL coaching change so far this season.
Montgomery is expected to make his debut behind St. Louis’ bench at the New York Rangers on Monday.
The St. Louis Blues have fired coach Drew Bannister. #STLBlues pic.twitter.com/2Jf9AXvcbg
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) November 24, 2024
By Harrison Brown
