New St. Louis Blues coach Jim Montgomery spoke to reporters on Monday at Madison Square Garden, wearing a dark blue sweatshirt with the team’s famous blue note logo. He was clearly excited about his new role.
Montgomery, who was an assistant coach with the Blues from 2020 to 2022, expressed his happiness about returning to St. Louis.
“Crazy — there’s no other word for it,” the 55-year-old said just a few days after being fired by the Boston Bruins and hired by St. Louis to replace Drew Bannister. “I have worked with over half this lineup already, and I know how committed they are. For me, this was a no-brainer for me to come back home.”
The Blues, who missed the playoffs last season after Bannister took over for the 2019 Stanley Cup-winning coach Craig Berube in December, have a lot to improve. They started this season with a 9-12-1 record. Only two teams have scored fewer goals than their 2.36 goals per game, and they are near the bottom of the league in both power play and penalty kill.
On Monday night, the Blues defeated the Rangers 5-2, playing hard from start to finish in Montgomery’s first game as coach. The team fired more than 40 shots at Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin. Forward Zack Bolduc scored his first two goals of the season.
“I loved our effort,” Montgomery said. “We could have had eight tonight. Shesterkin played well … For 60 minutes we stuck with how we needed to play.”
Montgomery previously led the Bruins to a record-breaking 65-win, 135-point season in 2022-23 and was named Coach of the Year. When he became available, Blues president and general manager Doug Armstrong moved quickly to bring him in.
“When you get a phone call and you hear Doug Armstrong’s plan and how you’re a big part of it, that makes you feel it is the right place to go,” Montgomery said. “The best line that put his hooks into me is, ‘When something delicious falls on my plate, I eat.’ I don’t know. I guess I was a T-bone that day.”
Every NHL team Montgomery has coached for a full season has made the playoffs, and his .659 points percentage is among the best in league history.
“I believe in this group,” Montgomery said. “It’s not easy to make the playoffs in this league. Half the teams miss it. But I do think that in time this is a caliber playoff team.”
Blues players have had positive reactions to the coaching change.
“He’s detailed and structured, but at the same time he lets guys play hockey,” said captain Brayden Schenn after the Blues’ morning skate. “He’s a guy you want to play hard for, who has had success in this league.”
Schenn scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period against the Rangers and said after the win that he felt a boost with Montgomery now behind the Blues bench.
“There’s always life and energy when any team makes a midseason coaching change,” Schenn said. “Tonight it showed. Now it’s our job to keep building on that.”
Robert Thomas, a first-round draft pick by St. Louis in 2017 who is now in his seventh season with the Blues, said he was sorry to see Bannister go but was happy to have Montgomery back as head coach.
“He was a huge help for me and someone I really relied on a couple of years ago,” Thomas said. “He’s someone a lot of us have a ton of respect for. He’s got a big personality.”
The Bruins fired Montgomery last Tuesday after losing 12 of their first 20 games. Boston won 120 of 184 regular-season games with Montgomery as coach, though their playoff success was limited to a first-round win over Toronto last spring.
Montgomery’s first NHL coaching job, with the Dallas Stars, ended when he was fired in December 2019 for unprofessional conduct.
Armstrong hired Montgomery in September 2020 to join Berube’s staff. Now, Armstrong has given Montgomery a fresh, five-year contract with the goal of helping the Blues return to being one of the league’s best teams.
“He’s one of those coaches that I really do believe can be with this team now and as it grows,” Armstrong said on Sunday. “The proof of that is the five-year commitment. One of the things I think is the next part for Jim’s career is to get that longevity in one spot.”
Leaving the Bruins after his success in Boston wasn’t easy, but Montgomery said he immediately chose to stay positive.
“I’m a firm believer that when one door closes, another one opens if you do the right thing,” he said. “It’s about your relationships in life… The five-year deal shows the commitment of Tom Stillman and the ownership group, that we are in this together.”
After the game, Montgomery said the team’s excitement was clear from the morning skate all the way to the final buzzer.
“It was very evident guys were excited to get out and play some hockey,” he said.
