Around the NHL 2024-2025

[TheOrganist]

Not sure if the timing will line up right for Monty to return to StL. Somewhat related. David Carle is still a very interesting option in the future.

Take this for what it’s worth, but rumor has it Monty had a positive experience in StL and that this info was relayed to Carle.

Montgomery's wife is from STL. He played here. He won a Cup here. I doubt anything happens immediately or even in-season but I mean it makes all the sense in the world.

 

[Brian39]

The something going on behind the scenes would be my concern. The Bruins know his record, and they (rumored) want to move on anyway. We know he's had personal problems before. He has had a couple incidents this season (screaming at marchand) that I think we're blown out of proportion, but maybe were bigger than I think. He might not be handling the pressure well. He also has early playoff exits after those great regular seasons. Bruins have more info than we do, and if they let him go, they decided the bad outweighed the good.

I'm not saying he would be a bad coach here or we shouldn't consider him. I'm just trying to look at it from more angles. People have wanted Bannister gone from the second he took the job. But I think we are better off than we should be given roster and injuries. I don't see the need to drive him out of town.

Boston also knew Bruce Cassidy's record. He took them to game 7 of a Cup Final in 2019 and a President's trophy in 2020. In his 6 total seasons in Boston the lowest point total (or pace in shortened seasons) was 106. In his final season in Boston they went 51-26-5 and lost to the Hurricanes in round 1. All in all, he had a 245-108-46 record in Boston.

He was fired that summer, hired by Vegas a week later, and then won the Cup the following spring.

Unless we get some actual reports about persoal issues, can we not jump to 'something must be going on behind the scenes' just because Monty had a stellar regular season record? We're only a couple years removed from Boston firing a different good coach who had a great record but appeared to be trending in the wrong direction for their organization.

 

[Reality Czech]

Boston also knew Bruce Cassidy's record. He took them to game 7 of a Cup Final in 2019 and a President's trophy in 2020. In his 6 total seasons in Boston the lowest point total (or pace in shortened seasons) was 106. In his final season in Boston they went 51-26-5 and lost to the Hurricanes in round 1. All in all, he had a 245-108-46 record in Boston.

He was fired that summer, hired by Vegas a week later, and then won the Cup the following spring.

Unless we get some actual reports about persoal issues, can we not jump to 'something must be going on behind the scenes' just because Monty had a stellar regular season record? We're only a couple years removed from Boston firing a different good coach who had a great record but appeared to be trending in the wrong direction for their organization.

Lol why do you care? It doesn't have to be personal issues but if it's not because of the team's performance on the ice then there must be some unseen reason he was let go this quickly. You'd think he would have got more slack because of his record unless there was a conflict between the coach and players or management.

Behind the scenes might just be personality clashes or issues with how he approaches things. Pretty clear that Cassidy was also let go because of behind the scenes reasons. Clearly he rubbed someone the wrong way. Not sure why it's a subject we shouldn't be allowed to discuss.

 

[BlueDream]

Honestly don’t understand people speculating on the “behind the scenes” stuff, as if this firing is surprising or something. It isn’t.

Here’s what happened in Boston:

- historic regular season that ended in a first round collapse
- another early exit the following season
- rough start to the 3rd season, currently out of the playoff picture

That’s a pretty standard trajectory for a coach getting fired. Their shelf life is around 3 years on average. You really don’t need to speculate on any drama as to why they’re making a change.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

I think it's as simple as Don Sweeney having a terrible offseason on the heels of a team reaching the end of their Cup window and needing a scapegoat for the team's poor play.

 

[Majorityof1]

Boston also knew Bruce Cassidy's record. He took them to game 7 of a Cup Final in 2019 and a President's trophy in 2020. In his 6 total seasons in Boston the lowest point total (or pace in shortened seasons) was 106. In his final season in Boston they went 51-26-5 and lost to the Hurricanes in round 1. All in all, he had a 245-108-46 record in Boston.

He was fired that summer, hired by Vegas a week later, and then won the Cup the following spring.

Unless we get some actual reports about persoal issues, can we not jump to 'something must be going on behind the scenes' just because Monty had a stellar regular season record? We're only a couple years removed from Boston firing a different good coach who had a great record but appeared to be trending in the wrong direction for their organization.

Cassidy had 6 years though. It's more common for a successful coach to have a shelf life after 6 years and was fired in the offseason. Monty has been there 2.25 years, less than the very short average tenure of NHL coaches, and would be fired 20 some games in. That is a quick firing fir a mostly successful coach that is currently in a playoff spot

 

[Majorityof1]

Honestly don’t understand people speculating on the “behind the scenes” stuff, as if this firing is surprising or something. It isn’t.

Here’s what happened in Boston:

- historic regular season that ended in a first round collapse
- another early exit the following season
- rough start to the 3rd season, currently out of the playoff picture

That’s a pretty standard trajectory for a coach getting fired. Their shelf life is around 3 years on average. You really don’t need to speculate on any drama as to why they’re making a change.

I don't think "historic regular season" and "standard trajectory" go together.

 

[BlueDream]

I don't think "historic regular season" and "standard trajectory" go together.

It does if you would read the rest of the post.

They should keep Montgomery because of what he did 2 years ago in the regular season? That’s not really how things work.

 

[Brian39]

I think it's pretty much a lock that something was going on behind the scenes. When's the last time an NHL coach has publicly called out his top two forwards and starting goalie within a couple of weeks?

I was shocked by how bad Boston looked the other day. Their roster has flaws but that was an embarrassing effort to get outplayed by this weakened Blues team at home. Wouldn't surprise me if he had lost the room and then you've gotta ask how that can happen so suddenly after the success they had recently.

To clarify, he didn't publicly call them all out. He benched Pasta, got into an argument with Marchand and very mildly called out Swayman.

This was what he publicly said about Marchand the first time he was asked about him following the bench argument: "You could tell how happy the bench was when he scored. He's our leader. He's someone that embodies what it is to be a Bruin the right way, the way he carries himself... he's our Captain." That's pretty far from publicly calling a guy out.

He benched Pasta for a period and this was his public statement after the game: “Coach’s decision in the third period. That’s all I’m gonna comment on."

The Swayman call out was his answer to a reported who asked if he felt that the lack of training camp was impacting his game: "I don't think missing training camp helps anyone. That's why you have training camps... But by no means do I think today is Jeremy Swayman not having training camp. We're long into that now."

I don't really think this stuff is any worse/different than what we saw from Hitch or Berube during their stints here. I do think that the team looked awful and very well might have quit on him. But I don't think that means something else was going on. Our veteran roster appeared to quit on Berube all of a sudden in 2022/23 and I certainly don't think that there was anything going on behind the scenes.

 

[Reality Czech]

Honestly don’t understand people speculating on the “behind the scenes” stuff, as if this firing is surprising or something. It isn’t.

Here’s what happened in Boston:

- historic regular season that ended in a first round collapse
- another early exit the following season
- rough start to the 3rd season, currently out of the playoff picture

That’s a pretty standard trajectory for a coach getting fired. Their shelf life is around 3 years on average. You really don’t need to speculate on any drama as to why they’re making a change.

Fair enough, but it makes me wonder why the team looked like it quit on him this season. Seems like everyone assumes Monty is a great coach, so it begs the question why does his team look like they stopped trying less than 20 games into the season?

I know he's a likeable guy and has gotten results at times in recent years, but not sure why everyone assumes he'd make such a huge difference with this current Blues team. If he couldn't get a more talented Boston roster over the hump, why do so many Blues fans seem to think he's the best choice to coach here?

 

[SirPaste]

Montgomery's wife is from STL. He played here. He won a Cup here. I doubt anything happens immediately or even in-season but I mean it makes all the sense in the world.

He didn't win a cup here, he came later on. He was coaching Dallas that season when we beat them.

 

[Reality Czech]

To clarify, he didn't publicly call them all out. He benched Pasta, got into an argument with Marchand and very mildly called out Swayman.

This was what he publicly said about Marchand the first time he was asked about him following the bench argument: "You could tell how happy the bench was when he scored. He's our leader. He's someone that embodies what it is to be a Bruin the right way, the way he carries himself... he's our Captain." That's pretty far from publicly calling a guy out.

He benched Pasta for a period and this was his public statement after the game: “Coach’s decision in the third period. That’s all I’m gonna comment on."

The Swayman call out was his answer to a reported who asked if he felt that the lack of training camp was impacting his game: "I don't think missing training camp helps anyone. That's why you have training camps... But by no means do I think today is Jeremy Swayman not having training camp. We're long into that now."

I don't really think this stuff is any worse/different than what we saw from Hitch or Berube during their stints here. I do think that the team looked awful and very well might have quit on him. But I don't think that means something else was going on. Our veteran roster appeared to quit on Berube all of a sudden in 2022/23 and I certainly don't think that there was anything going on behind the scenes.

Very true, every coach has a shelf life no matter how good they are. I'm just surprised how suddenly it happened in Boston. I don't see anything wrong with what he said about Marchy, Pasta or Swayman but it's risky to single out your star players like that. Benching Pasta is a bold move regardless of if he deserved it or not considering how much money they've invested in him.

 

[TheOrganist]

He didn't win a cup here, he came later on. He was coaching Dallas that season when we beat them.

Oy. Yes. My bad.

 

[TheOrganist]

I mostly agree and like you I was perfectly content with Kap having a job here as a depth option.

That said, I'm not mad about ownership not spending the $800k(ish) of remaining salary for him to play in the AHL and be a depth option. That isn't a huge positive for the organization, but it should be weighed against the negative of not having him available as a call up down the line.

This year is going to be a financial loss for the Blues. Thomas, Kyrou, Binner, Schenn, Buch, Krug, and Parayko all make more real dollars than cap dollars. All told, NHL payroll is above $95M this season. Add $1M-$2M more if Suter hits bonuses. That number includes Krug, but I'm not sure how much insurance is covering on his deal. I think it is a safe bet that the NHL payroll will be north of $90M. Attendance is not great and likely will continue that way. We're not in danger of relocating or anything like that, but trimming an NHL salary from the budget if he's not on the NHL team in a year like this is noticeable.

What are you talking about? The blues are almost at 97% capacity and probably have a solid 14k season ticket base (during a rough stretch of playoff-less hockey i might add) which would be the envy of nearly all small-mid market US teams. Investors have probably seen their asset grow 5,000% for those who got in at the ground floor. This is probably the most financially healthy the Blues have ever been.