Jim Montgomery Will Finally Get His Say On Assistant Coaches

"I think that with hiring a couple of assistant coaches, there’s going to be a blend of what we need," Montgomery said. "For sure we need someone that’s really good at PK, we need someone that has a history of doing well on the PP. Our special teams the last two years were not good enough. You’ve got to be at 100 (percent) combined PK, PP. It’s not the assistant coaches that are no longer (their) fault. It’s the players, myself and everyone’s plan together. That’s the way we look at it. It’s a “we” thing. That has to be significantly better, so that’s going to be really important.

"We’re going to need someone that has high energy, we’re going to need someone that’s a cerebral thinker, but the most important thing is that they’re intelligent and they teach, they know how to teach. You know how to teach defensemen how to pivot the right way, stick on puck. You look at Florida’s teams the last two years, they have a stick on every puck. How do we get someone to implement that? And that’s what I’m going to be looking for is some specialties in coaches that are going to be able to come in and make our players individually better and understand the team concept in those things that they do and why it’s important to get them to habitually do it."

Montgomery will sit down with general manager Doug Armstrong and incoming GM Alexander Steen and compile the best names available and work from there, according to Armstrong.

"My exercise in what I do, I put all the attributes on one side and I put all the names on the top and I just go down and whoever’s got the most check marks, we hire," Armstrong said. "What I want to do is I want to sit and I want to take what I believe is a good staff and then I want to sit with Alex and get his beliefs, and 'Monty' and then marinate that together and then we put the names up and then we go to work. 'Monty’s obviously going to have a ton of say in these hires, but it has to be vetted, and my decisions, my thought process, I need them to vet and I hope they respect me vetting theirs and we’ll come up with the criteria that’s needed before the names.

"What I don’t want to do is just start throwing out names. I want to find out what we want and then what names fit that more than just putting a guy in here just because he’s got a name and hope it works out."

For St. Louis Blues, Harsh Reality Is They Must Change One Aspect More Than Any Early In A Season

For St. Louis Blues, Harsh Reality Is They Must Change One Aspect More Than Any Early In A Season Team has been chasing standings two years in a row; last year they got away with it, this year they fell four points short, and they must change their attitude more than anything

Jordan Kyrou's Down Season Raises Trade Questions Again; Should Two Sides Seek Fresh Start Or Refocus On Coming Back Better, Stronger?

Jordan Kyrou's Down Season Raises Trade Questions Again; Should Two Sides Seek Fresh Start Or Refocus On Coming Back Better, Stronger? Forward had lowest output in goals, points since 2020-21, remains committed to St. Louis; team also remains committed -- for now

If Robert Thomas Was Available For Trade Before, He Shouldn't Have Been, Nor Should Be Moving Forward

If Robert Thomas Was Available For Trade Before, He Shouldn't Have Been, Nor Should Be Moving Forward St. Louis Blues' No. 1 center found game again down stretch for second straight season, formulated team's No. 1 line with play with Dylan Holloway, Jimmy Snuggerud; but 26-year-old wants to hear management's plans moving forward despite four years left on contract

What Does Dylan Holloway's Next Contract Look Like For St. Louis Blues?

What Does Dylan Holloway's Next Contract Look Like For St. Louis Blues? Forward who overcame torn abductor muscle, high ankle sprain within past year, set to become restricted free agent July 1, but unlike Philip Broberg, Doug Armstrong more open-ended regarding 24-year-old's contract

Jordan Binnington Keeping Open Mind Regarding Future

Jordan Binnington Keeping Open Mind Regarding Future St. Louis Blues Stanley Cup-winning goalie wants to discuss future team plans with GM-in-waiting Alexander Steen, management team with one year remaining on current contract

Image

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News atTHN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending storiesby subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.