The St. Louis Blues haven't had the start to the 2024-25 campaign that they were hoping for, as they have posted a record of 9-12-1 through their first 22 games. And while it's safe to say they haven't managed to meet expectations to this point, nobody could have reasonably predicted the shocking head coaching switch they were going to make on Sunday morning.

We saw a surprising head coaching move get made last week when the Boston Bruins fired their head coach Jim Montgomery after the team suffered a blowout 5-1 loss at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blues saw this as an opportunity to make an upgrade on the bench, as they opted to fire their own head coach Drew Bannister and replace him with Montgomery.

Via Frank Seravalli:

“Wow. St. Louis Blues have fired Drew Bannister and hired Jim Montgomery. Montgomery returns to St. Louis, where he previously served as an assistant, just five days after being fired in Boston.”

Blues looking for Jim Montgomery to right the ship

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After replacing Craig Berube early last year, Bannister promptly led the Blues to a 30-19-5 record over his 54 games in charge, which earned him a two-year contract, with the team removing the interim tag from in front of his title. Unfortunately, Bannister didn't last long, as he made it just 22 games into his first season in charge before the team swapped him out for Montgomery.

Montgomery worked as an assistant with the Blues from 2020-2022, and he will now return to his old stomping grounds, this time as the guy in charge. During his time with the Bruins, Montgomery led the team to a 120-41-23 record, but their inability to go deep in the playoffs, combined with their 8-9-3 start this season, resulted in the team deciding to move on from him.

With this move, Montgomery has landed a five-year contract from St. Louis, indicating that the team plans on having him be their head coach for the foreseeable future. This is a huge change for the Blues, and all eyes will be on Montgomery to see if he can get St. Louis on the right track after their slow start to the new season.