On Sunday, the St. Louis Blues fired bench boss Drew Bannister and hired Jim Montgomery as head coach.
Five days after losing his job as head coach of the Boston Bruins after more than two seasons, Montgomery signed a five-year contract with the Blues.
Prior to being fired following an 8-9-3 start to this season, Montgomery had a 120-41-23 record with the Bruins, where he won the Jack Adams Award for NHL coach of the year in 2022–2023.
Additionally, the Blues struggled under Bannister, dropping seven of their last nine games (2-6-1) to finish the season 9-12-1. In the Central Division, they are currently ranked sixth.
In 297 games as a bench coach, Montgomery, 55, had a 180-84-83 record with the Dallas Stars (2018–20) and the Boston Bruins. Additionally, he worked as an assistant to then-head coach Craig Berube in St. Louis for two seasons (2020–22).
Montgomery led Boston to a 65-12-5 record, 135 points, and a.823 points percentage in his first season as a backup (2022-23). These were all NHL single-season records.
But in the opening round of the Eastern Conference in April 2023, the Florida Panthers upset the Bruins in seven games. Before losing to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Panthers in six games last season, Boston defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games to win their first-round series.
On December 14, 2023, Bannister, 50, took over behind the bench after Berube was let out after a 13-14-1 start. Despite having a 30-19-5 record under Bannister’s direction, St. Louis missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
On May 7, the Blues signed Bannister to a two-year contract and lifted the interim tag off his title.
