The Blues are running into the same old problem, and Jim Montgomery may be the easiest piece to move.
St. Louis has opened the season 3-4-1, which leaves it with seven standings points, seventh place in the top-heavy Central Division and a minus-1 goal differential. There have been a few encouraging signs in those first eight games, but the biggest concern is the same one dragging them down again: Jordan Binnington’s continued poor play.
That puts Alex Steen, now running the front office, in a familiar kind of bind. A major trade feels unlikely after how busy the offseason already was, and the AHL cupboard does not exactly overflow with flashy call-up options. In that spot, teams often turn to the one move that can still create a jolt - the bench - and Montgomery could be on thin ice.
Montgomery’s run with the Blues has already had one dramatic swing. When Doug Armstrong hired him early in Drew Bannister’s first season, St.
Louis was again stumbling out of the gate. The front office still made the switch, and the Blues responded with a strong push the rest of the way, climbing into a wild card spot and nearly toppling the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets.
With a full offseason to build on that surge, the expectation was that the club would pick up where it left off.
Instead, the start to 2025-26 has gone sideways. The Blues looked sluggish right away, and the team’s goaltending was a major reason the losses piled up.
Joel Hofer nearly rescued the season, but the Blues still fell short, and now the early frustration is back on the table. Once again, the record is a losing one, and once again, a coaching change is part of the conversation.
What makes the situation different is the front-office handoff from Armstrong to Steen. Armstrong announced the transition well in advance, which is unusual around the league, and that history matters.
If Montgomery was Armstrong’s guy, he may also be Steen’s guy by extension. But new general managers usually want some kind of imprint on the roster and the staff, and moving on from the coach is often the cleanest way to make it.
The slow start only adds pressure. The Blues have been down this road under Montgomery before, and it raises the same question: is the team simply easing into the year, or is the message not landing? If the latter is true, a different voice may be needed behind the bench.
That said, the team’s underlying numbers muddy the picture a bit. Per Natural Stat Trick, St.
Louis owns a 51.90 expected Goals For percentage, which ranks 12th in the league and sits ahead of teams like the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights. The Blues have also scored 27 goals, third-most in the Central Division.
The offense, in other words, has not been nearly as feeble as the record suggests.
The real problem is in net. A coach can only work with the goaltending he’s given, and right now Binnington is doing the most damage.
If Steen wants the quickest possible fix, the obvious move is to bring in another goalie to support Hofer. Hofer’s 1.3 Goals Saved Above expected among goalies with three games played is 22nd in the league, per Money Puck, which is a perfectly fine start to the year.
Binnington, meanwhile, sits fifth-worst in the NHL at minus-5. Two of the four goalies below him are Darcey Kuemper and Dustin Wolf, and their teams have one win between them, with Wolf’s Calgary Flames accounting for that total while the LA Kings remain winless.
That is why Montgomery’s fate and the goalie situation are so tightly linked. It’s hard to fairly evaluate the coach until the Blues stop getting buried by the position that is sinking them.
If Steen wants to know whether Montgomery can still steer this team in the right direction, upgrading the goaltending feels like the first test. And if St.
Louis wants to avoid another January mess, it may need to act before the hole gets deeper.
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For a club waiting to see what kind of impact Mailloux can make once healthy, even a solo skate carries some weight. The Blues still have a stretch to go before he is ready to rejoin the lineup, and his rehab remains the priority, but the sight of him moving again offered a more encouraging update than the silence that followed his surgery. [Read more 🡒]