Drew Bannister is out as coach of the St. Louis Blues after less than a full calendar year on the job. Jim Montgomery is back behind the bench of an NHL team five days after he was fired by the Boston Bruins.The Blues fired Bannister on Sunday and hired Montgomery as his replacement, a stunning move a quarter of the way through the NHL season that puts a seasoned coach in charge of shepherding St. Louis through a retooling period and into the potential re-opening of the organization’s Stanley Cup-contending window. President and general manager Doug Armstrong said he did not anticipate making a change until Montgomery became a free agent.“This was more of an opportunity to get someone of Jim’s caliber than anything else,” Armstrong said on a video call with reporters. “When I talked to Drew today I told him this was more of a decision based on the availability of someone I think is a top NHL coach, someone that we have experience with, someone I really do believe can coach this team and also coach the team when it reaches its ultimate level of competitiveness.”Armstrong showed no hesitation in cutting ties with Bannister, who had the interim tag removed from his title and became the full-time coach in May. Bannister was promoted from Springfield of the American Hockey League to replace 2019 Cup-winning coach Craig Berube last December, and the Blues missed the playoffs despite winning 30 of their final 54 games.The Blues lost 13 of their first 22 games this season. Only two teams have scored fewer than their 2.36 goals a game, and they rank in the bottom third of the leagu …
