Blues fire HC Drew Bannister; hire Jim Montgomery as new HC

[robertmac43]

He was out of the game for a week and gets a 5-year deal? Well done lol

 

[BertCorbeau]

Good for St Louis.. they saw a window of opportunity and they took it

 

[DVision44]

St Louis having the 5th longest tenure and shortest tenured coach is quite the trick




For comparison John MacLean's disastrous tenure with the Devils was 33 games

37 games... he's on the list

 

[VivaLasVegas]

Nice timing for the Blues. Pounced as soon as the right guy became available.

Something about the quick and the dead, and an indication that the Blues have a quality organization.

 

[Frederixx]

MSL survives. Damn

Habs are a bottom 10 team, with or without the best possible NHL coach. Replace MSL when they get a decent lineup and he still loses. That's not happening before another 2 years+

 

[A1LeafNation]

Binner and Hofer the next Ullmark/Swayman tandem

 

[PaulD]

Habs are a bottom 10 team, with or without the best possible NHL coach. Replace MSL when they get a decent lineup and he still loses. That's not happening before another 2 years+

Get a coach when they get a decent line up ? Ha !
They should still be showing improvement. Disorganized and sometimes a mess in their own end.
They have branded them selves a rebuild organization. Even the former peewee coach is learning on the job. "Baby steps"
Come on !

 

[Laus723]

Good for Monty, he’s a great coach imo. This annoyed me, but whatever. He brought a lot out of that Bruins squad.

 

[trellaine201]

LOL that was quick.

 

[NinjaTurtle]

Feel a little bad for Bannister basically being a placeholder, but as an outsider you have to appreciate a team or management group identifying their guy and not wasting any time. Why give these other squandering teams the chance to fire their coach and scoop up Montgomery?

 

[nonamejay]

Not surprised by the timing, but decently surprised by the team.

 

[pld459666]

It was either make a change now or prepare for an ugly final 3/4 of the season and likely miss out on the chance to hire Monty.

Not sure you would have missed your chance in june/July on Monty

 

[Stealth JD]

Dammit. Was hoping Armstrong would reach out to Montgomery and tell him to take the rest of the season off to recharge and he'd be the Blues coach next year; leaving Bannister to complete the tank that he started.

Blues really need a top-5 pick to boost the rebuild. If Monty comes in and gets them back in the wild card chase, picking 16th it's going to take a long time to get back to respectability. Bannister was done dirty by Army. Crazy the Blues are going to pay three coaches this year to finish outside of the playoffs. Dumb, dumb, dumb. But at least they got their guy, i guess.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Crazy statement to fire the guy you just made head coach full time not even 30 games in, but i kinda respect it. Armstrong isn't going to let his ego get in the way of what he thinks is the right decision.

 

[EpochLink]

Not surprised to see the Blues pounce and grab Monty. Who's next in the sack race?

Travis Green

 

[Chainshot]

Not surprised to see the Blues pounce and grab Monty. Who's next in the sack race?

Lalonde?

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Good for Montgomery. Was a bs firing.

Probably smart move for the Blues

It was more than well deserved to any Bruins fan that actually follows the team.

Montgomery (and entire coaching staff) were a problem as much as Sweeney who built the roster with a different vision in mind than Montgomery could game plan for.

Good for Jim to get 5 years of security, not so good for St. Louis. Great person, average at best coach overall.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Lalonde?

Lalonde, Roy, Brunette, Cronin, Sullivan realistically should be on this list regardless of how much the Penguins refuse.

 

[Mike Liut]

Dammit. Was hoping Armstrong would reach out to Montgomery and tell him to take the rest of the season off to recharge and he'd be the Blues coach next year; leaving Bannister to complete the tank that he started.

Blues really need a top-5 pick to boost the rebuild. If Monty comes in and gets them back in the wild card chase, picking 16th it's going to take a long time to get back to respectability. Bannister was done dirty by Army. Crazy the Blues are going to pay three coaches this year to finish outside of the playoffs. Dumb, dumb, dumb. But at least they got their guy, i guess.

Same thought here

 

[Mike C]

St Louis having the 5th longest tenure and shortest tenured coach is quite the trick




For comparison John MacLean's disastrous tenure with the Devils was 33 games

And yet he's been running the Islanders shitty power play for 3 seasons now so there's always hope for these failures

 

[Mike Liut]

It was more than well deserved to any Bruins fan that actually follows the team.

Montgomery (and entire coaching staff) were a problem as much as Sweeney who built the roster with a different vision in mind than Montgomery could game plan for.

Good for Jim to get 5 years of security, not so good for St. Louis. Great person, average at best coach overall.

Average coach? He can’t help your roster and prospect pool sucks

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

When it goes 5 days from someone getting fired to getting hired in the NHL, someone messed up. And it was on most occasions not the hiring team.

What are other examples, in season?

Average coach? He can’t help your roster and prospect pool sucks

He cannot game plan around the roster which while lacking offense is more than capable defensively.

Had he an ounce of defensive structure the PK and goals against would be far better. No one expected those issues. Enjoy your new coach, he is indeed average.

 

[RiverbottomChuck]

Fwiw Monty is a good to great NHL coach but he even said in the "perfect season" Bergy was coaching the team he was just showing up and setting schedules.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

Shocking news...right where Monty's wife wanted to be. Every married man knows how that goes

Haha. The Blues definitely seized on the Montgomery's still owning a home there, his wife being from there, and his love of the city.

I've mentioned before the Blues have been tough to figure out this season. Given Montgomery's reputation for helping young players develop, St. Louis is a good fit for him. Multiple teams would have been lucky to have him, but his wife isn't from those places and St. Louis didn't eff around.

 

[Reality Czech]

Not sure you would have missed your chance in june/July on Monty

Guess it depends how badly he wanted to get back behind a bench. I thought he might take a few months off to recharge but apparently not.