{"id":407852,"date":"2026-01-14T21:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T21:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/407852\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T21:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T21:00:14","slug":"blues-should-keep-montgomery-regardless-of-the-seasons-outcome-the-hockey-writers-st-louis-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/407852\/","title":{"rendered":"Blues Should Keep Montgomery Regardless of the Season’s Outcome – The Hockey Writers – St Louis Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"

The St. Louis Blues<\/a>\u2018 playoff hopes are hanging by a thread, as they sit five points back of the San Jose Sharks for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, putting head coach Jim Montgomery<\/a> firmly in the hot seat<\/a>. Montgomery has yet to coach a full season behind the Blues bench \u2013 he was hired roughly halfway through last season \u2013 and there are many reasons why the Blues haven\u2019t let him go. Here are the reasons why they shouldn\u2019t. <\/p>\n

Blues Rookies Look Confident<\/p>\n

Montgomery\u2019s immediate impact on the Blues\u2019 rookies can\u2019t be overlooked, especially Jimmy Snuggerud<\/a>, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Otto Stenberg, who are expected to be the future of Blues hockey. Last season, Snuggerud tore it up, with four points in seven games in both the regular season and playoffs immediately after signing his entry-level contract (ELC) out of the NCAA. <\/p>\n

Montgomery has shown confidence in Snuggerud since the beginning of the season, mentioning<\/a> he is \u201cvery impressed with the young man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: Standout Moments From the Blues\u2019 Shutout Win Over the Hurricanes<\/a><\/p>\n

Dvorsky got his shot for two games in 2024-25 but was sent back to the American Hockey League\u2019s (AHL) Springfield Thunderbirds. This season, with Montgomery\u2019s new line combinations, Dvorsky has found himself as the go-to guy on the top power-play unit and leads the team in power-play goals with four. <\/p>\n

Montgomery has a harder time with Stenberg, who is making his NHL debut after recording only eight points through 21 AHL games this season, thanks to Dylan Holloway\u2019s ankle injury<\/a>. That said, Montgomery found a good spot for Stenberg in the middle six, and he\u2019s looked confident there, scoring three points in his first five games. He now has six points through 12 games and may get the chance to stick with the team. <\/p>\n

Montgomery Trusting Goaltending Through Slumps<\/p>\n

Goaltending wasn\u2019t much of an issue before Montgomery arrived in St. Louis. Even last season, Jordan Binnington<\/a> and Joel Hofer were pretty good \u2013 Binnington had a .900 save percentage (SV%) through 54 starts.<\/p>\n

This season, Binnington, usually the most relied-upon goaltender on the roster, has struggled with Hofer picking up the slack. Through 23 starts, Hofer has a 10-9-2 record, a .902 SV%, 2.81 goals-against average (GAA), and four shutouts. Binnington has an 8-12-6 record, a .871 SV%, and a .3.53 GAA, and one shutout.<\/p>\n

This is a difficult situation for Montgomery, and despite the ups and downs, he\u2019s still put a lot of trust in both goaltenders, especially Binnington. After the Blues\u2019 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 1, in which the coach and his goaltender had a heated exchange, Montgomery said this plainly about Binnington<\/a>: \u201cHe\u2019s a competitor, he raises his game in the big moments all the time. I love him. He walked off the ice, he said, \u2018I love you.\u2019 I said, \u2018I love you, too.\u2019 We\u2019re both competitors by nature, and at the end of the period, he waited for me, we apologized, and we moved on. It\u2019s over and done with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JordanJordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues (Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Montgomery clearly knows how to handle these situations without letting them become a distraction. That\u2019s exactly what the Blues need, and it will be key to growing a rebuilding team into a contender. If top players are happy, the whole team will be too.<\/p>\n

Montgomery Will Eventually Have a Better Team<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not forget that Montgomery won the Jack Adams Award<\/a> with the Boston Bruins during their record-breaking 2022-2023 season, when they went 65-12-5. This was the season directly after the team finished 10th in the league. Before that, he helped the Dallas Stars reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2020.<\/p>\n

With a good mix of young players and veterans, Montgomery has a lot of time to build the chemistry needed for the team to succeed, and their short playoff run last season is a testament to the positive impact Montgomery has already had. <\/p>\n

The Blues don\u2019t need a tough and gritty coach. They need offensive production. So far, they are seeing a lot of success from their rookies and even defenseman Justin Faulk, who has put up 22 points in 47 games and is among the top six defensemen in the league in goals (11).<\/p>\n

Montgomery should not be a \u2018win now\u2019 coach. He has already helped and will continue help a struggling team reach its potential, even if it takes longer than expected. No matter how good their rookies are or how good or bad their goaltending is, Montgomery hasn\u2019t been behind the bench long enough to even consider removing him. The future looks bright, and Montgomery can turn the Blues into champions with just a little patience. <\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The St. Louis Blues\u2018 playoff hopes are hanging by a thread, as they sit five points back of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5120],"tags":[71,5,1269,4,534,84,5285,5284],"class_list":{"0":"post-407852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-blues","8":"tag-blues","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-jim-montgomery","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-st-louis","13":"tag-st-louis-blues","14":"tag-stlouis","15":"tag-stlouisblues"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115895469668298894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}