Boston Bruins

Jim Montgomery Joining Blues Raises Questions About His Bruins Exit

Published

2 weeks ago

November 25, 2024

Photo courtesy of the Boston Bruins/@NHLBruins on 𝕏

When the Boston Bruins told Jim Montgomery they no longer required his services last week, it was inevitable that some other team would come along and hire him sooner rather than later.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Blues seized the opportunity.

Just five days after he was handed his walking papers in Boston, the Blues hired Montgomery to be their head coach for the next five years, firing Drew Bannister in the process.

“There was no inclination to make a coaching change,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said to St. Louis media. “When Jim got let go in Boston, he was someone I’ve respected, someone I’ve 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 on having someone of Jim’s caliber become available.”

Montgomery is too good of a hockey coach to have stayed unemployed, and his previous history with the Blues, along with his personal connections to the city of St. Louis, made it almost too obvious of a place for him to land.

So much so that it raises questions whether this was Montgomery’s plan all along.

Did Montgomery Want To Stay With The Bruins?

It was no secret when the season began that Montgomery was in the final year of his contract with the Bruins.

At the time, it seemed that the Bruins were waiting to see if Montgomery would prove himself by leading them deep into the postseason before locking him up long-term.

However, recent events have uncovered new details regarding the situation.

“I was in extension talks, and there were contract offers,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said last week when asked if he regretted starting the year with Montgomery on an expiring contract. “I feel very comfortable…There are two sides to every negotiation. They have to make their own decisions accordingly, and we have to be reactive as a result of that. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t come to fruition at some point in time. You’re very open. We never shut things down. But at the end of the day, performance is part of this.”

Were There Philosophical Differences Between Montgomery and Sweeney?

The win over Toronto in the first round last postseason kept Montgomery behind the Bruins’ bench job for the time being. But Boston’s loss to the Florida Panthers in the following round may have been the beginning of the end.

Entering the offseason, the Bruins were intent on building a team to beat the Panthers at their own game. One that is predicated on size, physicality, and vastly different from the style of hockey that Montgomery typically coaches.

“Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals went to 2-1,” Sweeney said following the first day of NHL free agency on July 1. “That might be the one single pushback I have on Monty, that yeah, you can win 2-1 in those situations, and you probably have to more often than not.”

When the Bruins achieved the greatest regular season in NHL history in their first season under Montgomery, it was by using speed and skill to dominate puck possession while creating scoring chances off the rush.

That strategy works when a team has players such as Patrice Bergeron, Jake DeBrusk, and Taylor Hall, but not so much with a roster that has a majority of its players weighing north of 220 pounds.

Throughout the early part of this season, the Bruins looked as if they were playing a game they could not win. They tried to keep up with their opponents and rely on the structure that had once made them so dominant but instead looked impotent.

Now, in their first two games under interim head coach Joe Sacco, the Bruins are undefeated.

They look more composed and are playing to their strengths, leading to back-to-back wins of the 1-0 and 2-1 varieties.