Blues brand coach Drew Bannister, name of Jim Montgomery’s replacement: Why St. Louis made the move

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By Jeremy Rutherford, Fluto Shinzawa and Alex Andreev

The St. Louis Blues have fired coach Drew Bannister and immediately hired former Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery as his replacement, the team announced Sunday. The Blues signed Montgomery, who the Bruins fired on Tuesday, to a five-year contract to become the 28th head coach in team history.

The Blues are 9-12-1 this season and are coming off a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday.

St. Louis named the 50-year-old Bannister interim head coach in December 2023 after firing Craig Berube and promoted him to the permanent head coaching role with a two-year contract following the 2023-2024 season.

He went 30-19-5 as interim coach and 39-31-6 overall during his time with the organization.

St. Louis finished 43-33-6 last season but missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second straight season.

Montgomery, 55, returns to the Blues after serving as an assistant coach with the team for two seasons (2020-2022). He was also head coach of the Dallas Stars before his time in Boston. The Bruins were 120-41-23 under Montgomery and have gone 2-0-0 since his firing.

“He’s going to land on his feet,” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said a day after Montgomery’s firing. “He’s too good a coach.”

Why did the Blues fire Bannister?

Two reasons: No. 1 general manager Doug Armstrong believed the Blues could make the playoffs this season, and there were no signs that would happen. No. 2 is that Montgomery suddenly became available.

In 22 games this season, the Blues have scored two or fewer goals 13 times, and one or fewer in seven of those games. Bannister faced a difficult challenge as he played twelve games without top center Robert Thomas, and the team was also without defender Philip Broberg.

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But what started as a situation where Bannister was the coach who would help the Blues navigate a realignment became a situation where the team wanted to compete and believed Montgomery could help get the results. — Jeremy Rutherford, blues beat writer

Why Montgomery?

Despite being fired in Boston, Montgomery has a strong resume and the Blues know him well.

Montgomery, who had a brief spell with the Blues during his playing career (67 games in 1993-94), was a respected assistant coach at the club.

Montgomery quickly built a strong bond with the Blues’ top players such as Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. The coach had a way of connecting with them and others, and the club hopes he can return and help bring out the best in the squad.

Montgomery is also a quality coach when it comes to specific parts of the game, such as five-on-five offense and special teams, and the Blues have been useless in those areas.

Overall, Armstrong believes Montgomery can help in these areas, both in the immediate future and in the long term. — Rutherford

More context on Montgomery’s move

Boston is no longer responsible for fulfilling the remainder of Montgomery’s three-year contract. With his move to St. Louis, he joins former Bruins head coach Claude Julien, who was fired by the club in February 2017 and now serves as an assistant coach with the Blues.

Montgomery isn’t the only former Bruins coach to land a five-year contract after being fired by the team. Bruce Cassidy, Montgomery’s predecessor in Boston, signed a five-year contract with the Vegas Golden Knights after being fired by the Bruins on June 6, 2022. Fluto Shinzawa, Bruins beat writer