Confirmed with Link: Bannister Out, Monty In

[Xerloris]

just listened to the press conf. lol our local media is so pathetic. no real questions with regards to how people like kyrou refuse to take the next step and how his failure to perform has led to a third coach in 1 year.

For you to place blame on one single player for not performing that means you're expecting a McDavid lvl performance from Kyrou and that explains why you think he's not worth his contract, you think he should be performing to McDavids lvl. He makes 8 mill, not 14 mill.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

I blind man could see this coming.

Now someone go fetch my white cane

 

[Ranksu]

View attachment 935172

 

[BlueDream]

Neighbours for 23gp in 2022-23, who looked pretty good in 2023-24 in his 77 NHL games with Bannister at the helm as interim coach for 54 games.

Perunovich for his time in Springfield
2021-22, 17 gp 3-19-22p (NHL 19 go 0-6-6p)
2022-23, 22 gp 2-18-20p
Perunovich has started to settle into a role on our current roster and I think a large portion of his struggles should be attributed to injuries and missed playing time as opposed to an indictment on the coach's ability.

Toropchenko
2019-20 59gp 5-4-9p Bannister San Antonio
2020-21 45gp 7-4-11p KHL Kovalev Kunlun
2021-22 42gp 10-10-20p (NHL 28gp 2-0-2p)
2022-23 5gp 1-2-3p (NHL 69gp 10-9-19p)
2023-24 NHL 82gp 14-7-21p
Solid bottom 6 forechecking machine, with Bannister coaching him in his 2 seasons he played in the AHL and then last year as the primary coach in the NHL. How much impact did Berube have in the 28 NHL games in 2021-22, NHL 69 games in 2022-23 and 24 NHL games in 2023-24 vs Bannister's 42 AHL games in 2021-22, 5 AHL games in 2022-23 and 54 NHL games in 2023-24 can be asked.


Walker
2013-19 Hershey Bears under various coaches
2019-20 San Antonio under Bannister
2021-22 Springfield under Bannister
Not developed under Bannister, but certainly the complaints about Walker have lessened for the 2023-25 NHL appearances after Bannister had time with him compared to his usage under Berube's coaching in 2021-23.

Kessel
2021-22 15gp 0-3-3p (after 37 NCAA games)
2022-23 71gp 5-28-33p (NHL 2gp 0p)
2023-24 36gp 3-5-8p (NHL 39gp 1-6-7p)
Bannister is the only pro coach Kessel has played significant games under. Berube would have been around for a handful of his pro games as coach - but Kessel was an NCAA/Bannister product.

Bolduc
QJMHL until 2023.
2023-24 50gp 8-17-25p (NHL 25gp 5-4-9p)
Mostly Bannister here, really difficult to judge how effective that time was/wasn't.

Hofer
WHL until 2019-20. AHL 1gp for San Antonio
2020-21 10gp for Utica - Trent Cull coach, Bannister Associate Coach
2021-22 39gp (NHL 2gp)
2022-23 47gp (NHL 6gp)
2023-24 NHL 30gp
Mostly Bannister as head coach for Hofer here. Fair question to ask how much influence is head coach working with goalie vs the goalie coach.

Kyrou
2018-19 47p 16-27-43p (NHL 16gp 1-2-3p)
2019-20 16gp 9-6-15p (NHL 28gp 4-5-9p)
NHL player since then. Only Bannister was only AHL coach he had.

Walman
2016-17 NCAA, 7 AHL games w/ Chicago wolves
2017-18 40gp Chicago coach R. Thompson
17gp Binghamton R. Kowalsky
2018-19 66gp San Antonio Bannister
2019-20 57gp San Antonio Bannister
NHL after this. Gone, not really diving into this. Many fingerprints in play.

Not really sure who else you can classify as a prospect that Bannister had the opportunity to work with - our prospects haven't played a significant amount of time in the AHL recently as we haven't really had many. Largely a product of our success and cup win.

Worth pointing out that Hofer, Neighbours, Toropchenko, Kyrou and Kessel all developed into steady pros under his AHL influence. Can easily argue that Walker, Perunovich and Bolduc have shown improvements under his guidance to lesser extents - these 3 are separate because they've had other contributing factors or shorter spans under Bannister than the first grouping.

Edit: fixed dates under the Toropchenko entry that were off by a year in the short blurb

This isn’t an impressive list at all. I would say all of these are highly questionable.

Neighbours was already starting to break out and become a legit player under Berube. I think Jake has just been following the natural progression the Blues expected from him as a 1st round pick. And there are still flaws in his game that he needs to improve upon.

Hofer: the head coach doesn’t develop goalies. That has very little correlation. And Hofer showed promise as a prospect before he played for Bannister anyways.

Walker and Toropchenko are 4th line guys. They’re the same they were a couple years ago, they looked the same under Berube.

Perunovich’s best hockey came as a rookie under Berube. Since then, he’s dealt with injuries and confidence issues. A lot remains to be seen with him.

Kessel did well under Bannister in the AHL but he has regressed this season it seems. Either way, he isn’t very good and is a 3rd pairing guy at best so it doesn’t really matter either way.

Crediting Bannister for Bolduc is rather laughable. His first season in the AHL was pretty mediocre. In the NHL it’s been up and down, and Bannister isn’t even playing him lately. That’s certainly not helping his development.

Walman? I mean he had one decent season in the AHL with Bannister. Since then he’s made the NHL but has been on 3 teams and has gotten healthy scratched some on San Jose, one of the worst teams in the league. So what even is he? If anything, Detroit got the most out of him so I would credit their coaches more. Walman had high potential it seemed when he was in college so we certainly didn’t get what we could have out of him.

Kyrou was already a good offensive player and maybe Bannister helped him round out his game defensively but judging by Armstrong’s comments, that was either going to happen with Kyrou or he was going to be traded. He didn’t have much of a choice and I think that’s just natural maturation of a player.

I can’t point to a single guy on this list and say “yeah, Bannister made a big difference with that player.” And this isn’t me trying to shit on Bannister because as fans we don’t have all the info, but even you admit yourself a lot of those are questionable. That list essentially contains a bunch of players who are still question marks, and Jordan Kyrou. That’s really it.

You are also not mentioning some of the players that ended up as disappointments. What about Alexandrov? What about Kostin? What about Dean (so far)? Why didn’t Bannister develop them better?

He overall seemed to do a good job in the AHL but as for being a developmental coach, I’m not seeing it.

 

[A Real Barn Burner]

So we went Full Monty! Five years is huge! My biggest takeaway from this is we have a coach that the front office says “this is our guy”. Sends a huge message to everyone on this team . Play his way or your gone . No quiet quitting like happened with the last year of Hitchcock, all of Yeo, and the last year of Berube as well. Seems like the players were checking in and out on banister as well imho.

I would love to see Monty turn this team into a playoff team this year for Stillman but I doubt it happens. Either way Armstrong and Steen are going to see what players fit into Monty’s system and hopefully make better roster decisions moving forward based on that.

Also the coaching stability will be a big part in any success this team has with this new core imho. We needed Hitch last time to pull us out of the losing ways coming out of the tank and set a winning culture hopefully Monty can do the same thing.

 

[pseudoswede]

Now the question I have is... was Bannister even the right choice for Springfield?

I whipped this up earlier today since we have now signed Julien and Monty in the past four months. My Bruins fan friends got a good laugh out of it.

 

[Xerloris]

Now the question I have is... was Bannister even the right choice for Springfield?

I whipped this up earlier today since we have now signed Julien and Monty in the past four months. My Bruins fan friends got a good laugh out of it.

View attachment 935216

I get it, it's funny but he was ours first.

 

[Brockon]

This isn’t an impressive list at all. I would say all of these are highly questionable.

Neighbours was already starting to break out and become a legit player under Berube. I think Jake has just been following the natural progression the Blues expected from him as a 1st round pick. And there are still flaws in his game that he needs to improve upon.

Hofer: the head coach doesn’t develop goalies. That has very little correlation. And Hofer showed promise as a prospect before he played for Bannister anyways.

Walker and Toropchenko are 4th line guys. They’re the same they were a couple years ago, they looked the same under Berube.

Perunovich’s best hockey came as a rookie under Berube. Since then, he’s dealt with injuries and confidence issues. A lot remains to be seen with him.

Kessel did well under Bannister in the AHL but he has regressed this season it seems. Either way, he isn’t very good and is a 3rd pairing guy at best so it doesn’t really matter either way.

Crediting Bannister for Bolduc is rather laughable. His first season in the AHL was pretty mediocre. In the NHL it’s been up and down, and Bannister isn’t even playing him lately. That’s certainly not helping his development.

Walman? I mean he had one decent season in the AHL with Bannister. Since then he’s made the NHL but has been on 3 teams and has gotten healthy scratched some on San Jose, one of the worst teams in the league. So what even is he? If anything, Detroit got the most out of him so I would credit their coaches more. Walman had high potential it seemed when he was in college so we certainly didn’t get what we could have out of him.

Kyrou was already a good offensive player and maybe Bannister helped him round out his game defensively but judging by Armstrong’s comments, that was either going to happen with Kyrou or he was going to be traded. He didn’t have much of a choice and I think that’s just natural maturation of a player.

I can’t point to a single guy on this list and say “yeah, Bannister made a big difference with that player.” Not a single one. And this isn’t me trying to shit on Bannister but even you admit yourself a lot of those are questionable. That list essentially contains a bunch of players who are still question marks, and Jordan Kyrou. That’s really it.

You are also not mentioning some of the players that ended up as disappointments. What about Alexandrov? What about Kostin? What about Dean (so far)? Why didn’t Bannister develop them better?

He overall seemed to do a good job in the AHL but as for being a developmental coach, I’m not seeing it.

You've misunderstood the intent of my post.

It was given in response to this post here. Worth noting I glossed over the first part of the sentence and my focus was on the players Bannister had worked with, as opposed to the players who thrived under Bannister.

I’m talking about his entire tenure with the Blues organization. To act like it’s just 20 games is a bit disingenuous as he was here the majority of last season as well and coached our AHL team for years before that. Didn’t really see any of our prospects thriving under him at the AHL level, unless I’m wrong who exactly has he had a hand in helping to develop over the years he’s been here?

The intent was to provide a list of the players who he had a hand in developing over his head coach tenure.

I made a few anecdotal observations along the way - which you allude to. But I wasn't trying to butter Bannister up, nor throw him under the bus - just provide some names for discussion in response to a question.

I forgot to list the duds - I went from memory for players and looked up their timelines compared to Bannister's coaching tenure.

Looking at the timeline for Zach Dean - Bannister would have been in position to work with him for the first 24 AHL games of the 2023-24 season and 9 NHL games that year during the stretch drive when the Blues were fighting to grab the last playoff spot in the West. Dean got 88 mins of ice time in 9 games between March 21 and April 17th. There's not a significant amount of time for Dean to work with Bannister - because Dean was in the QJMHL until the summer of 2023.

Kostin - Bannister didn't shine here. Combined with Klim's insistance that he wouldn't play a season in the CHL post draft to acclimate to the North American game and he really struggled initially in the AHL. He never really showed any of the stuff that made him a 1st round pick with any degree of consistency.

Alexandrov - counting stats in the AHL look good, but he doesn't seem to be stepping up into the NHL. I don't think Alexandrov only playing 30 pro games last year helped development. As a late 2nd from 2019 - this is when he should be expected to start being an NHL regular, his career 51 NHL games to date don't support that. His 43-50-93p in 137 AHL games show he's doing something in the AHL. Not sure how much longer he has to step up before he gets left behind.

Edit: My Bolduc comment was poorly worded. The comment mostly Bannister here was in reference to the 50 AHL games and 25 NHL games played, meaning Bannister was his coach for the bulk of the year. I followed it up saying that it was hard to judge how impactful Bannister was/wasn't [on his development because there's nothing else compare it to at the pro level]. I should have elaborated the portion in square brackets here, but it went unsaid. I don't think we'll be able to see how good/bad Bannister was for Bolduc until he's played another 2 seasons - we need to see how Bolduc responds to another coach and progresses. Even then, there's always a chance that the improvement gets attributed to the new coach rather than Bolduc settling in doing what Bannister gave him.

 

[simon IC]

Reasonable objection.

I still think that Perunovich is going to be given some sheltered deployment even after everyone is healthy because he offers something we don't currently have anywhere else in the system.

He's not a 2 way dman, but he moves the puck on the PP better than our other dmen. For a team ranked 25th at 16.7% that's going to get him reps with sheltered usage elsewhere. At least until Monty decides that element isn't enough to keep dressing Perunovich when he has his choice of healthy players.

But, if that's the big objection about the brief and shallow summary I made about the handful of prospects Bannister oversaw in the AHL during his tenure there as head coach...

That Perunovich has failed to make himself an everyday player in the NHL, because he cannot be trusted defensively and can't seem to make up for lost development due to the series of injuries he's dealt with. At least one injury was a direct result of his poor judgment - thinking back to Perunovich bracing himself poorly after being hit into the boards.

That poor judgment bracing himself rather than absorbing the hit properly mirrors several other poor decisions Perunovich struggles to make properly. Skating the puck out into coverage trying to force a play, resulting in a turnover. Making a high danger pass attempting to create a break away, puck intercepted and in the back of our net...

He just doesn't make the simple plays rimming the puck around or chipping the puck in deep reliably, often enough - That's more on the player than the coach in my mind. That Perunovich occasionally simplifies his game shows that he's not attempting to follow a particular directive to drive the transition game up ice - he's making the decision on how to move the puck out of the dzone. It's also partially on the GM refusing to acknowledge the player doesn't fit our roster - which feels very familiar to another small offensive dman we've complained about on this board...

Edit: Broke up the overly long and choppy last paragraph into a few smaller more digestible chunks - added a bit more transition in... It's still rough, but it's all I can manage right now.

f*** post concussion syndrome. After 10 months, I still can't analyze and write a proper response - this is even worse in the late afternoon/evening.

Do not worry; your response was articulate and informed. I agree with you entirely that Perunovich's stalled development is his own fault, not a result of any mismanagement by Bannister. The only thing I might hang on Bannister is perhaps being overly loyal to his Springfield players like Perunovich. Even that is debatable, however. It could be more of a case of Armstrong doubling down and trying to prove that Perunovich's selection in the draft was a mistake.
Take care of yourself! As I'm sure you are aware, concussions are no joke. I wish you a speedy recovery.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Do not worry; your response was articulate and informed. I agree with you entirely that Perunovich's stalled development is his own fault, not a result of any mismanagement by Bannister. The only thing I might hang on Bannister is perhaps being overly loyal to his Springfield players like Perunovich. Even that is debatable, however. It could be more of a case of Armstrong doubling down and trying to prove that Perunovich's selection in the draft was a mistake.
Take care of yourself! As I'm sure you are aware, concussions are no joke. I wish you a speedy recovery.

If Bannister was more loyal to his Springfield guys, you'd imagine Peru wouldn't have been scratched the first 7 games of the season and Bolduc would be hitting more than 11min per night and getting scratched in 6 games so far.

In my opinion, Peru's brought more to the table than Kessel and POJ have this year, especially over the last few weeks. For the time being, he's earned bottom pairing time when our roster gets healthy until he plays himself out of it. Which, to be fair, could easily happen at any point given his history.

 

[Reality Czech]

I disagree strongly about Perunovich. He is only a regular because of our injuries on defence. Once we are healthy, he should absolutely not have a regular spot on this roster.

You don't think he's looked a lot better lately? Based on what he's shown lately I'd prefer him in the lineup over Joseph or Kessel. He definitely has taken a step forward, but I guess time will tell if it's a big enough step to stick in the lineup full time. Maybe he'll start getting more PP1 time as well since Faulk isn't ideal in that spot.

 

[mk80]

Would somebody sign a 1 yr deal?

Hitch did.

But that was a much different circumstance with him than with Bannister this summer

 

[LogosBlue]

You don't think he's looked a lot better lately? Based on what he's shown lately I'd prefer him in the lineup over Joseph or Kessel. He definitely has taken a step forward, but I guess time will tell if it's a big enough step to stick in the lineup full time. Maybe he'll start getting more PP1 time as well since Faulk isn't ideal in that spot.

Peru has been playing better. He may have some trade value now if he keeps it up.

Also, with Montgomery in does this bode well for our existing assistant coaches? From what I've heard Boston they never gave Montgomery the ability to pick his assistant coaches. Does that mean he wanted specific people in for AC's. Will he want the same thing here?

I hope Ott's days are numbered. Couldn't stand the guy as a player and grit my teeth every time I see him behind the bench and in my opinion, he's part of the problem.

 

[sbet1998]

I don't think I laughed at you. Apologies if it came off like that. But I definitely disagreed with you. I admitted above, I was wrong there.

You did say Julien would take over, which I still highly doubt. Armstrong specifically said, they only made the move because Montgomery came available. But I was wrong about them firing Bannister so early, so kudos on the call.

Its all good. We all want the same thing.

Julien seemed liked a logical option but I was wrong. Armstrong said himself he had no intentions to make a change until Monty became available.

It does prove that he wasnt happy with Bannister.

 

[bleedblue1223]

 

[SirPaste]

Peru has been playing better. He may have some trade value now if he keeps it up.

Also, with Montgomery in does this bode well for our existing assistant coaches? From what I've heard Boston they never gave Montgomery the ability to pick his assistant coaches. Does that mean he wanted specific people in for AC's. Will he want the same thing here?

I hope Ott's days are numbered. Couldn't stand the guy as a player and grit my teeth every time I see him behind the bench and in my opinion, he's part of the problem.

Regarding the bolded I have read the same thing. I have no idea if it will be different here as he has already worked with the guys here minus Julien and Weber I think so maybe that familiarity will make it a different situation. With our long commitment to him I also wouldn't be surprised if they let him make some changes in the offseason but I doubt anything would happen before then. As for Ott, he was also here during the cup run and by all accounts he is a good coach, but I wouldn't be too upset if he left either, that said he and Monty have worked together in the past so not sure he would be one to leave.

 

[joe galiba]

just listened to the press conf. lol our local media is so pathetic. no real questions with regards to how people like kyrou refuse to take the next step and how his failure to perform has led to a third coach in 1 year.

it is clearly the fault of Thomas, 4th coach in less than 6 years

 

[Linkens Mastery]

it is clearly the fault of Thomas, 4th coach in less than 6 years

Idk Parayko had Hitch, Yeo, Berube, Bannister, and now Monty

 

[mk80]

The greatest of all pickup lines now!

 

[STL fan in MN]

Late to the party but I was busy yesterday.

I feel bad for Bannister as I feel like he didn’t get a legit shot and this very well could derail his career…BUT, selfishly, I’m thrilled with the move. Loved Monty when he was here.

I had been wondering about this ever since the Bruins fired Monty but gun to my head, I would’ve thought Army would’ve stuck by Bannister. But I’m good with the move.

That said, we shouldn’t completely ignore the issues Monty had in Boston. I think he’s a heck of a coach but every human has weaknesses and blind spots. Hopefully the current Blues assistants are strong in any areas where Monty is a bit deficient. Sort of like how Chief was a great motivator but a little deficient in the Xs and Os department but Monty was excellent at that. It was super noticeable when Monty left.

I’m excited. Don’t expect anything close to an overnight rejuvenation but I found Bannister too conservative and passive. Our offense is sooo boring, predictable, one and done etc. Some of that is the personnel but I think a good chunk of it was the system. The transition to offense just wasn’t there. That’s the main thing I’ll be looking for with this change - how will Monty get them to pick up the pace. Maybe be a little less risk averse.

5 years is big commitment. Bruins have to be thrilled. They had to pay the guy for 5 days he didn’t work there. I doubt the Blues get so lucky. Good chance the Blues will be paying out the rest of Bannister’s contract IMO. Or maybe he eventually gets an Asst or AHL HC job and the Blues split the difference with the new team, who knows.

 

[HighNote]

it is clearly the fault of Thomas, 4th coach in less than 6 years

Idk Parayko had Hitch, Yeo, Berube, Bannister, and now Monty

I think you guys are missing the real culprit here. And it's under the perfect disguise, the guy that is suppose to be the most responsible for looking after the team's health and well-being.

That's right, it's Ray Barile.

He has had Keenan, Roberts, Quenneville, Kitchen, Murray, Payne, Hitchcock, Yeo, Berube, and Bannister. Monty is simply his next victim.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

Monty just gave one of the best interviews i've heard any coach give in a long, long time. His deep understanding of our organization already is a great starting point. Love the move, love the guy.

 

[BlueDream]

Monty just gave one of the best interviews i've heard any coach give in a long, long time. His deep understanding of our organization already is a great starting point. Love the move, love the guy.

Yeah he’s really a breath of fresh air. He’s a character with a huge personality.

And he seems to truly feel a connection to the Blues and this city. Gotta love a guy like that. Hope he can lift a Cup with us years down the road.