Blues fire Bannister, hire Montgomery as new head coach

[Canada 02]

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/st-louis-blue...mery-1.2209159

The Blues also signed Montgomery to a five-year contract extension as he becomes the 28th head coach in team history.

I mentioned in the firing thread that Monty's wife is from here, plus Army gave him his opportunity back into the league after 'exile' from Dallas. There is loyalty and mutual benefit. Overall, a great fit for both.

[gvitaly]

I think that's a pretty good gamble for STL.

Giving a coach a 5-year contract seems a bit risky, but also gives him some time to create his own culture, and exchange players that don't fit that culture.

Montgomrey's record speaks for itself. We'll get to see just how much of it was due to great goal tending.

[SuperMatt18]

I like how bold the Blues were about it too.

Lots of teams would go "oh we only took interim tag off him this offseason" but of
You think an upgrade is out there then who cares.

[Goriders]

If the Blues didn’t pick him up someone else probably would have. Seems like most teams use the 20 game mark as being the point where the original roster out of training camp start getting tinkered with. Underperforming teams start getting dismantled. Contending teams start fine tuning.

[transplant99]

180-84-33 in the regular season as a HC in the NHL to this point is nothing short of remarkable.

St. Louis made a really good move here before someone else did.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/...ntgomery-coach

[Canada 02]

5 years gives him protection when Steen takes over after 25/26.

[devo22]

if you take out the interim games, Bannisters tenure was the fourth shortest in the NHL, according to Seravalli. Pushing Geoff Ward to fifth:

Mike Babcock CBJ 0 games 2023
Barry Melrose TBL 16 games 2008
Ron Rolston BUF 20 games 2013
Drew Bannister STL 22 games 2024
Geoff Ward CGY 24 games 2020-21

not going to lie, seeing Mike Babcock at number 1 on that list for all eternity makes me irrationally happy.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by devo22

if you take out the interim games, Bannisters tenure was the fourth shortest in the NHL, according to Seravalli. Pushing Geoff Ward to fifth:

Mike Babcock CBJ 0 games 2023
Barry Melrose TBL 16 games 2008
Ron Rolston BUF 20 games 2013
Drew Bannister STL 22 games 2024
Geoff Ward CGY 24 games 2020-21

not going to lie, seeing Mike Babcock at number 1 on that list for all eternity makes me irrationally happy.

Always makes me chuckle. Like...wow did he #### that bed!

[Sylvanfan]

Yeah this looks like the Blues seeing an opportunity they couldn't pass up. They didn't sign Broberg and Holloway so they could be better than Chicago and San Jose.

[Erick Estrada]

Bruins loss is the Blues gain. I like the aggressiveness as it was looking like Bannister wasn't going to be their head coach next year anyway and Montgomery was going to get snapped up sooner than later.

[McG]

Oddly they didn’t grab Q or the beav.

It’s a bold move but Armstrong knows him so not much of a risk.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

I think that's a pretty good gamble for STL.

Giving a coach a 5-year contract seems a bit risky, but also gives him some time to create his own culture, and exchange players that don't fit that culture.

Montgomrey's record speaks for itself. We'll get to see just how much of it was due to great goal tending.

Great goaltending? Nine times out of 10, show me a great goaltender I’ll show you a great defensive team.

His record is based on two seasons, and the first one season (which skews as a very positive outlier) they still had Bergeron and Krejci, while Marchand was around point per game, and Pastrnak jumped from point per game to the 110 point level.

He may have had a record seems season but he inherited a team that had won 52 games the year prior and been to the SC finals pretty recently as well (2019)

He does seem to have a pretty short shelf life, based on his stints in Dallas and Boston

We will see what he is

[Reggie Dunlop]

Guess he wasn't keen on the Oilers.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Great goaltending? Nine times out of 10, show me a great goaltender I’ll show you a great defensive team.

His record is based on two seasons, and the first one season (which skews as a very positive outlier) they still had Bergeron and Krejci, while Marchand was around point per game, and Pastrnak jumped from point per game to the 110 point level.

He may have had a record seems season but he inherited a team that had won 52 games the year prior and been to the SC finals pretty recently as well (2019)

He does seem to have a pretty short shelf life, based on his stints in Dallas and Boston

We will see what he is

I dont think either club wanted to fire him, but both were forced to for very different reasons.

He is a great coach, but his alcohol problems cost him in Dallas while this last time was the fairly typical "cant fire 20 players so you have to fire the coach" scenario. If you've watched a lot of Bruins games this year, its hard to argue with it either.


There is a reason he got a 5 year deal right off the hop.

[Paulie Walnuts]

He was t fired by Dallas because of coaching issues. Off ice stuff.

Also I’m sorry that Boston record setting team wasn’t a great roster.

I think this a great move. I’d fire Huska to do this.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

He was t fired by Dallas because of coaching issues. Off ice stuff.

Also I’m sorry that Boston record setting team wasn’t a great roster.

I think this a great move. I’d fire Huska to do this.

The biggest reason the team is not a joke this year is Ryan Huska.

Full stop.

I’d have fired Geoff Ward for Montgomery, not Huska.

[activeStick]

Huska doesn't deserve that stray considering the kind of season he has the Flames roster playing. That's a crazy take to me. I'm just glad the Blues picked Montgomery up and not the Oilers. Have to admit I was a little worried!

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by devo22

if you take out the interim games, Bannisters tenure was the fourth shortest in the NHL, according to Seravalli. Pushing Geoff Ward to fifth:

Mike Babcock CBJ 0 games 2023
Barry Melrose TBL 16 games 2008
Ron Rolston BUF 20 games 2013
Drew Bannister STL 22 games 2024
Geoff Ward CGY 24 games 2020-21

not going to lie, seeing Mike Babcock at number 1 on that list for all eternity makes me irrationally happy.

I believe there was a case back in the early days where the owner of the Blackhawks hired a coach, and then fired him after his first practice with the team. Considering that the other names on the list are all from the salary cap era, I suppose that one hardly counts – but it's a cute bit of bar trivia.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I am really interested to see what he does in St. Louis. I look at that squad as a very 'mediocre' build - some nice young pieces, some decent old vets, but overall a very 'meh' build, IMO. I don't think they have enough to return to the top 10 of the NHL standings, even with Montgomery. Will also be interesting to see how he manages Kyrou and if there ends up being some friction there (which I am going to guess there will be). I anticipate some Kyrou trade rumours by the new year.

[activeStick]

Just took a peek at their lines.

Buchnevich-Thomas-Kyrou
Saad-Schenn-Neighbours
Holloway-Faksa-Joseph
Toropchenko-Sundqvist-Walker

Krug-Parayko
Faulk-Leddy
Suter-Broberg