Blues Should Keep Montgomery Regardless of the Season’s Outcome

The St. Louis Blues‘ 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 firmly in the hot seat. Montgomery has yet to coach a full season behind the Blues bench – he was hired roughly halfway through last season – and there are many reasons why the Blues haven’t let him go. Here are the reasons why they shouldn’t.

Blues Rookies Look Confident

Montgomery’s immediate impact on the Blues’ rookies can’t be overlooked, especially Jimmy Snuggerud, 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.

Montgomery has shown confidence in Snuggerud since the beginning of the season, mentioning he is “very impressed with the young man.”

Dvorsky got his shot for two games in 2024-25 but was sent back to the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Springfield Thunderbirds. This season, with Montgomery’s 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.

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’s ankle injury. That said, Montgomery found a good spot for Stenberg in the middle six, and he’s 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.

Montgomery Trusting Goaltending Through Slumps

Goaltending wasn’t much of an issue before Montgomery arrived in St. Louis. Even last season, Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer were pretty good – Binnington had a .900 save percentage (SV%) through 54 starts.

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.

This is a difficult situation for Montgomery, and despite the ups and downs, he’s still put a lot of trust in both goaltenders, especially Binnington. After the Blues’ 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: “He’s a competitor, he raises his game in the big moments all the time. I love him. He walked off the ice, he said, ‘I love you.’ I said, ‘I love you, too.’ We’re both competitors by nature, and at the end of the period, he waited for me, we apologized, and we moved on. It’s over and done with.”