Confirmed with Link: Bannister Out, Monty In

LGB

Registered User
Feb 4, 2019
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Didn't think this would happen so quickly. Not expecting a lot this year. Hopefully Bolduc starts getting ice time. I think we're positioned well to be a playoff team next year with a good off season.
 

BlueDream

Registered User
Aug 30, 2011
26,221
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Echoing everyone else’s thoughts that I’m pretty surprised this happened this quickly.

Bannister seems like a nice guy, but I’m happy about this. All the signs were there that Monty would eventually end back up here, and the players here seemed to love him.
 
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Linkens Mastery

Conductor of the TankTown Express
Jan 15, 2014
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Saw a Bruins fan saying Monty and his Wife wanted to come back to STL because Monty's wife wanted to be closer to home.

It really wouldn't surprise me if Monty had other offers out and he would have taken them if Blues weren't quick with their offer. I think Monty was always the guys Blues wanted. But, after the Bruins keeping him after last season they just went with Bannister so they didn't burn a bridge with a guy from outside of the organization if Monty did become available.
 

PocketNines

Cutter's Way
Apr 29, 2004
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Also credit to Tom “da Wallett” Stillman for continuing to open the checkbook. I’m sure this wasn’t cheap and that’s a long term for a coach in this league. Dude cares.
Meh ... the man was threatened by his best player with young kids having the hypothetical power to say no to him, and that's why we are watching this level of hockey ...
 

BlueDream

Registered User
Aug 30, 2011
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It was obvious Bannister was never their first choice. But now I’m curious to see what else may happen after this.

Armstrong is clearly unhappy with the way the team is playing. Even if we don’t make the playoffs this season, you’d think he may be aggressive in making a trade for someone who can play center for us.

Bringing in a player like that would put Monty in a better position to succeed, and allow us to better evaluate some of our young wingers. Obviously this isn’t an easy thing to acquire, but after the offer sheets and now a coaching change, Army seems willing to do whatever it takes to start seeing more competitive hockey.
 

TheOrganist

Don't Call Him Alex
Feb 21, 2006
4,283
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Meh ... the man was threatened by his best player with young kids having the hypothetical power to say no to him, and that's why we are watching this level of hockey ...
There’s no doubt he’s spending like a drunken businessman at happy hour on head coaches because of Doug’s errors that he’s having to rectify.
 

Itsnotatrap

Registered User
Oct 6, 2013
1,322
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To be sure, the team isn’t good, but significant portion of the roster needs to develop and grow into something good, and they got as good a coach as they can reasonably expect to try to lead them there.

When you have the chance to clearly upgrade somewhere like this, you want to take the shot. Love that the Blues got the resources together and struck when the opportunity emerged.

Tough spot for Bannister, and I don’t know that it would be much any other way in his tenure with much any other coach….but that doesn’t take away anything else said above. Hopefully he’ll find a good assistant gig or something, Davis Payne style.
 
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Mike Liut

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Feb 12, 2008
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your most welcome for 2019, epic underdog story. You might want to hold your breath on Monty

The Blues had the deepest, biggest, most physical team in the nhl in 2019. They punished teams and could roll 4 lines.
 

PocketNines

Cutter's Way
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There’s no doubt he’s spending like a drunken businessman at happy hour on head coaches because of Doug’s errors that he’s having to rectify.
I don't know, I think Doug and Tom were on the same page with that situation. To put it another way, there is no chance Stillman was like "dude what in f*** are you thinking saying he'll be more powerful than me, aren't you in the winning hockey business?"
 

TheOrganist

Don't Call Him Alex
Feb 21, 2006
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I don't know, I think Doug and Tom were on the same page with that situation. To put it another way, there is no chance Stillman was like "dude what in f*** are you thinking saying he'll be more powerful than me, aren't you in the winning hockey business?"
Ah. I gotcha. Ya, hard to know. F’ing disaster either way and here we are…
 
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BadgersandBlues

Registered User
Jun 6, 2011
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My jaw dropped when I opened my phone this morning. I couldn't be more ecstatic. I didn't think we'd make a change this fast, but after watching the press briefings from last night (Which truthfully I never do, so maybe I'm reading too much into one event) Faulk and especially Buch looked ready to mutiny.

I should probably feel kinda bad for Bannister, but I think we all knew he was at best our second choice this off-season, and frankly he was murdering the joy out of one of my most treasured hobbies, so I can't really be assed to give a f*** about him.

I don't think Monty is going to come in and turn us into a contender overnight, but hopefully we look at least somewhat competent moving forward. I'd like to see a whole lot less of Schenn/Saad and a whole lot more of Bolduc/Holloway.

I would like to once again state that Tom Stillman is one of, if not the best, owner we've seen in St. Louis, and in the running for best owner in any sport in the entire country. He OK'd the Buch extension, the Holloway/Broberg offer sheets, and now in a season where we're almost guaranteed to lose money, the man stepped up with a huge financial commitment to a top tier head coach 22 games after signing another head coach to a two year commitment. He has never once wavered from putting his money where his mouth is, and he's always viewed the team with a long-term outlook.

Finally - if we do want to try and push up into the playoff bubble, we really do need to get a 2C, even if it's a 2-3 year stopgap. There's nothing wrong with getting someone now who Dvo can compete with for those minutes over the next few years, it will only strengthen the team. I haven't seen anything that shows me that Holloway or Sunny can handle 3C minutes, and Dean still has a lot of growing to do as well. If Dvo develops into the 2C we all dream of, that's just more great news b/c whomever we get today to fill the 2C role can get pushed down into 3C and strengthen the team further. I'm not selling the farm, but let's go out and find a competent center who can play with Kyrou and either Neighbors or Bolduc.
 

PocketNines

Cutter's Way
Apr 29, 2004
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your most welcome for 2019, epic underdog story. You might want to hold your breath on Monty
the farther we get from 2019 the more glaringly obvious who the better team that year was. the Blues had a far superior defense, better goaltender and they had more depth up front.

notice how the Blues are three games below .500 now, just like when they were supposedly "last" that year when the schedulemaker scheduled them 6 fewer games than everyone at the supposed "dead last" point.
 
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Reality Czech

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Apr 17, 2017
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Just wanted to give a big thanks to Coach Bannister for his service at Springfield and as head coach of the Blues. He did the best he could this year with what he had. Best of luck to Coach Montgomery. May it be a very successful five years and long live The Note.

I agree. Feel bad for Bannister in a way but those are the breaks. The path to success for an NHL coach is usually a bumpy one. Look at the journey Monty, Berube and many others have taken to get where they are today.

Hope Bannister can learn from this experience and get another shot somewhere down the road.
 
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Xerloris

reckless optimism
Jun 9, 2015
7,663
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I'm not nearly as down on Bannister as most were, but I'm happy about this. I view this move as "getting your guy" rather than being an indictment on Bannister. Monty has a hell of a resume and our front office already knows him well.

I wonder what's next for Bannister. He's grinded a career largely away from his family and I'm happy for him that he at least turned an interim position into some real financial security for his family.

I kind of agree, I don't think Bannister is a bad coach but just a bad fit for our team right now. Just like Berube, he's a good coach just not for us at this time. I hope Bannister finds a job somewhere.
 
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Bluesfan54

Registered User
Jul 28, 2014
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I'm not expecting us to become good overnight, I do want to see our top 4 forwards start producing more tho. Also want to see Bolduc and Holloway get some more consistent playing time. Saad and Schenn should have their minutes pulled back as well.
Maybe we’ll see Hofer once in a while, too.
 

TheOrganist

Don't Call Him Alex
Feb 21, 2006
4,283
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I kind of agree, I don't think Bannister is a bad coach but just a bad fit for our team right now. Just like Berube, he's a good coach just not for us at this time. I hope Bannister finds a job somewhere.
Well, no. Berube was the fall guy for Armstrong’s idiotic GM’ing post-bubble.
 

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