Behind Blues’ sudden coaching change: ‘A difference maker became available and we responded’

ST. LOUIS — If the Boston Bruins hadn’t fired Jim Montgomery on Tuesday, Drew Bannister would still be the St. Louis Blues head coach.

That’s how Blues general manager Doug Armstrong explained his decision to fire Bannister Sunday morning, after just 22 games this season, and replace him with Montgomery.

“There was no inclination to make a coaching change,” Armstrong said. “When Jim was let go in Boston, he was someone I respected, someone I admired, someone I felt had all the attributes to be a long-term coach for the Blues. This decision was based, I would say, almost 100 percent that one of Jim’s caliber became available.”

Montgomery and the Blues agreed a five-year contract and, after a conference call with Armstrong and team captains on Sunday morning, he is expected to join the club in New York on Sunday night ahead of the game against Rangers.

The news wasn’t a complete shock.

Athletics floated the option last week because the Blues didn’t live up to Armstrong’s expectations to compete for a playoff spot this season along with Montgomery’s sudden availability.

The club went 39-31-6 in 76 games under Bannister. It dropped to 9-12-1 on the season after a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday — six points out of a wild-card spot in the Western Conference standings.

In 22 games this season, the offense has scored two goals or fewer 13 times and one goal or fewer seven times. The powerplay is ranked no. 25 in the NHL (16.7 percent), and the penalty kill is no. 24 (75.9 percent).

“When I talked to Drew today, the situation that we were in — a young coach learning, learning with young players — it wasn’t an easy situation for him to walk into,” Armstrong said. “I thought he did a good job. He made mistakes. We all made mistakes. So Drew learned as we went along.

“I was more than prepared to go through peaks and valleys with Drew until Monty became available, and then it just felt like it might not be available for the next couple of years. I didn’t know when the next opportunity would be would come and I felt it was the right thing to do for the Blues franchise.”

The Blues had interest in Montgomery last season, but when Boston advanced to the second round of the playoffs, Armstrong took the interim tag from Bannister and announced a two-year contract for him as head coach.

When asked on Sunday if Montgomery was really the focus of the Blues’ internal discussions last summer, Armstrong replied: “He really wasn’t because he had a job. I don’t spend a lot of time on the wish list of what’s out there. To be honest, I didn’t spend much time thinking about Monty this summer.”

But it is clear after Montgomery’s hiring that he would have been on the wish list if there had been one. Armstrong said he is a coach who can help the club now and in the future.

“He’s really at the peak of his coaching career right now and we’re the benefactors of that,” Armstrong said. “He’s the full package, or at least we hope he’s the full package. He can coach a team that’s developing and coach a team that’s developed and ready to win. As we continue to learn to be competitive on a nightly basis, Monty can push us all to be better and when we get there, he can take us to the promised land.”

It was also clear that Armstrong did not see Bannister as that guy, pointing to the fact that inexperience behind the bench can no longer be used as an excuse as the team tries to find its way in the coming weeks.

Montgomery was 120-41-23 in Boston, including the most wins in a single season in NHL history (65-12-5) in 2022-23.

“I go back to when Ken Hitchcock came in — coaching is not an issue,” Armstrong said. “He’s a hell of a coach. The game is old. It’s more than 100 years old, and he holds the best single-season record. He knows how to train. So if there was any question mark about that, it’s gone now.”

Despite making the move that he felt was best for the organization, Armstrong acknowledged the perception of a coaching carousel in the St. Louis, who on Wednesday will have his third man behind the bench in less than a calendar year.

Bannister was promoted to replace Craig Berube in mid-December last year. He becomes the fifth coach fired by Armstrong, following Davis Payne, Ken Hitchcock, Mike Yeo and Berube.

“I certainly understand if that’s how people look at it,” Armstrong said. “I think the one with Craig, it was a heck of a run and a change was needed. I think Drew came in and did a good job as the interim period was positive. We went through the process last year thinking about other coaches and I came back that Drew had done enough to warrant the opportunity to learn on the job here in the NHL and work through it.

“Like I said, I woke up (earlier this week) and had no plans at all to do this type of news conference. Except a coach who I think is a difference maker became available and we responded to that.”

Armstrong insisted the move says nothing about the state of the Blues’ retool.

“When we first talked about the retooling, we used the (Los Angeles Kings’) model for three or four years and we’re 1 1/2 years into it,” Armstrong said. “One of the things we’re doing is we’re waiting on (Dalibor) Dvorský, (Jimmy) Snuggerud, (Otto) Stenberg, (Theo) Lindstein and (Adam) Jiricek. That’s five first-round picks that we are happy to have.

“It is very important for me to say that our vision of where we are has not changed. When we said we were going to rebuild, today Monty didn’t bring Dvorský, Snuggerud, Stenberg … closer to playing. It comes with maturity. What it does, it gives us a really good coach for today and tomorrow.”

As for today, are the Blues a potential playoff team this season with Montgomery now at the helm?

“Our record suggests that no, we’re not going to the playoffs,” Armstrong said. “I think our season to date has fluctuated. We’re obviously struggling on both ends of the special teams and scoring goals, and that’s not a good recipe for success.

“I think getting them (Philip Broberg and Nick Leddy) back will help stabilize things. Losing Robert Thomas like we did took away from the attack and it hasn’t returned since he came back. So we have our work to do. We have a lot of things to organize to his satisfaction and we are able to move forward.”

(Photo by Jim Montgomery: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)