NHL insider: Jim Montgomery ‘had one eye on the Blues’ after Bruins firing
"I don't think this is a surprise to anybody.”
The Bruins decided to fire Jim Montgomery last week after Boston opened the year with a lackluster 8-9-3 record.
It didn’t take very long for Montgomery to land on his feet, with the 2022-23 Jack Adams Award winner signing a five-year contract with the St. Louis Blues on Sunday — just five days after Boston handed him a pink slip.
It was a drastic shift for the Blues, who elevated interim head coach Drew Bannister to a full-time role last offseason via a two-year extension. But once Montgomery hit the open market last week, it didn’t take long for Blues GM Doug Armstrong to strike.
“When I woke up Wednesday morning, there was no inclination to make a coaching change,” Armstrong told reporters on Sunday, adding: “This decision, I would say, almost 100% on having someone of Jim’s caliber become available when I didn’t know that was going to happen.”
Boston’s decision to move on from Montgomery after just two full seasons might have come as a surprise. But longtime NHL insider Elliotte Friedman wasn’t shocked to see Montgomery land in St. Louis in short order.
“This was always the plan,” Friedman said of Montgomery joining the Blues on his “32 Thoughts” podcast on Monday. “If it didn’t work out in Boston, this was always going to be the outcome. As a matter of fact, within an hour of the announcement being made, I got calls from two different people who said to me, ‘You have no guts.’ And ‘guts’ was not the phrase they used. … And I was like, why?
“And they said, ‘Because you danced around it when you wrote about it last week … but you knew this guy was going to St .Louis, and you didn’t come right out and say it.’ And I said, ‘You’re right. I did lack the guts to come right out and say it.’”
Montgomery already has plenty of history with both the Blues and Armstrong. After getting fired as Stars head coach in December 2019 for unprofessional conduct, Montgomery re-entered the coaching ranks when he joined the Blues as an assistant coach for two seasons (2020-22) before getting hired by Boston.
Add in the fact that Montgomery opened his NHL career with the Blues and his family still has an offseason home in St. Louis, and Armstrong’s interest shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
But was that interest something that was already present before Montgomery officially hit the hot seat this fall?
As Friedman noted, the timing of the Blues’ decision to retain Bannister via a new extension came shortly after Montgomery and the Bruins avoided blowing another 3-1 series lead in the playoffs — this time to the Maple Leafs.
“I think let’s just go back to this. Drew Banister got the coaching job last year on an interim basis,” Friedman said. “When Craig Berube was fired, [Banninster] did not get the official job until May 7, which was just after the Boston Bruins played Game 1 of the second round last year against the Florida Panthers.
“And especially now, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on. Doug Armstrong was waiting to see if there was any chance that if the Boston Bruins lost in the first round to the Toronto Maple Leafs — would Jim Montgomery become available? The answer? They won. They hung on. They won that series, and now Montgomery is not available.”
While the Bruins’ poor start did prompt Don Sweeney and Boston’s top brass to move on from Montgomery, Friedman noted that there might have also been some hesitancy on the part of Montgomery to commit long-term to Boston.
Sweeney acknowledged last week that Boston remained in contract talks with Montgomery, with Friedman writing on Sportsnet Thursday that “people who believe [Montgomery] was unsure about Boston even before they were unsure about him.”
Friedman elaborated more on that sentiment Monday, noting that Montgomery might have had some reservations about Boston’s augmented roster and their shift in play style to a heavier, no-frills brand of hockey.
“Doug Armstrong did a five-year deal,” Friedman said. “I don’t believe the Bruins offered five years. Someone will tell me if I’m wrong, but what I’ve heard is that the Bruins offered Montgomery three years. But like we said on Friday’s pod, I think this was bigger than simply the negotiations and the offer.
“I think it was about philosophy. I think it was about approach. I don’t think the coach and the front office in Boston were on the same page, and I just think everybody realized that was not a long-term match.”
For now, it looks as though all parties have benefited from the split between the Bruins and Montgomery. Joe Sacco has stabilized Boston’s play — at least for two games — while Montgomery is now coaching a team he clearly had an affinity for.
Still, the short turnaround of Montgomery’s reunion with St. Louis is interesting to note after a disappointing end to his tenure in Boston.
“I think everybody knew that the Blues had one eye on Montgomery, and Montgomery had one eye on the Blues,” Friedman added. “And I would think that the Bruins knew that this was possible all along, that Montgomery realized that this other situation was there.
“And if he wasn’t happy with the way that the Bruin situation was working out, he could potentially go there. And that’s exactly the way it unfolded. I don’t think this is a surprise to anybody.”
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