Blues fire coach Bannister, hire Montgomery

The St. Louis Blues fired head coach Drew Bannister and replaced him with Jim Montgomery, the team announced Sunday.

Montgomery was removed from his post as bench boss of the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

The Blues signed Montgomery to a five-year extension. He has experience with St. Louis after serving the club as an assistant coach for two seasons in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Bannister was hired on an interim basis after the Blues fired Craig Berube last December. They closed out the campaign with a 30-19-5 record and a .602 points percentage under Bannister's direction but missed the playoffs by six points.

St. Louis removed Bannister's interim tag and signed him to a two-year extension in May.

The Blues have struggled to start the 2024-25 season and sit in sixth place of the Central Division with a 9-12-1 record and .432 points percentage. They suffered a pair of 8-1 losses - one to the Ottawa Senators and the other to the Washington Capitals - in a two-week span.

Bannister's last game was Saturday's 3-1 defeat to the New York Islanders.

Injuries have been part of the problem. Star forward Robert Thomas missed 12 games with a fractured ankle, while defenseman Philip Broberg remains out with the apparent leg injury he suffered in early November.

St. Louis last made the playoffs in 2022, when it advanced to the second round before being eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche.

Montgomery was in the midst of his third season in Beantown and piloted the team to a 120-41-23 record during his tenure. He won the Jack Adams Award as the league's best head coach in 2023 after helping the Bruins set all-time records for most wins (65) and points (135) in a single season.

Despite his dazzling regular-season results, Boston was unable to make a deep playoff run under Montgomery, and its season ended at the hands of the Florida Panthers in back-to-back years.

The Bruins moved on from Montgomery after starting the campaign with an 8-9-3 mark.

Montgomery also served as head coach of the Dallas Stars for parts of two seasons beginning in 2018-19. He was let go from the team in December 2019 for unprofessional conduct and entered rehab for alcohol abuse in January. The Blues hired Montgomery as assistant coach eight months later.

St. Louis will take on the New York Rangers on Monday.

Montgomery is set to serve his first game as bench boss of the Blues just seven days after his last with the Bruins, the second-shortest period between in-season coaching jobs, per NHL PR.