NEW YORK — The Blues didn’t wait long, and neither did Jim Montgomery.
Five days after he was fired as the Bruins head coach, Montgomery was hired on Sunday as the head coach of the Blues, signing a five-year contract in the process.
As a result, the Blues fired coach Drew Bannister, who was 22 games into his first full season as the full-time coach in ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´.
Montgomery, 55, was in his third season as the head coach in Boston before he was fired last week. Despite an 8-9-3 record this season, the Bruins had the league’s best record during Montgomery's tenure at 120-41-23. During the 2022-23 season, the Bruins set an NHL record by racking up 135 points as Montgomery won the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach.
Montgomery was an assistant coach for the Blues from 2020-22. When he ran the power play, the Blues were sixth in the NHL. When he ran the penalty kill, the Blues were fifth in the NHL.
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Bannister finished his Blues coaching career with a 39-31-6 record, counting the 54 games last season when he was the interim coach following the firing of Craig Berube. He signed a two-year contract this summer when the Blues named him the full-time head coach.
Bannister was in his seventh season within the organization, coaching in the AHL before he got the NHL job.
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong will speak to reporters at noon.
This story will be updated.
In a 3-1 loss to the Islanders on Saturday night at UBS Arena, the Blues once again struggled to score, as Jake Neighbours’ power-play goal in the third period was their only goal of the evening.
The Blues and Islanders combined for one goal at even-strength Saturday as the Blues lost 3-1, their seventh loss in the last nine games.
Since Nov. 12, no NHL team has scored first more often than the Blues, even if that hasn’t translated to wins (×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´ is 2-2-1 in those five games).