Entering his second full season, which is basically his third, St. Louis Blues head coach Jim Montgomery looks to lead this young team into a new era.
It is unclear how much of a leash he will have with new General Manager Alexander Steen, but one thing is perfectly clear. Montgomery has no more excuses for next season, and a concrete plan has to be set for the future of this franchise. Whoever will be apart, or won’t, must be established with Montgomery’s blessing attached to it.
Moving back in the right direction
When Montgomery was signed in the early part of the 2024-25 season, the Blues were a mess. Seemingly overnight, they overtook the odds and made a miraculous run toward a playoff berth.
Last season had a different arc to it, as it wasn’t very pretty. The 2025-26 season had its moments of both good and bad, with the latter being in the majority. This team could not stay healthy, find the right fits, or establish any kind of momentum. Montgomery shuffled and shuffled and then re-shuffled again to find the right combinations, and by the time he figured it out, it was too late.
For the upcoming season, expect a lot of the late-season line combos to remain the same, barring anything extravagant to come out of training camp.
Speaking of training camp
Montgomery was the highlight of the exit interviews at the end of the 2025-26 campaign as he talked about what is in store for the next training camp session. He described it as a tenacious one, and that was backed up by General Manager Alexander Steen's acquisitions in the center depth and in the defensive unit with Brandon Carlo.
As it stands right now, there are position battles all over the roster, and that is a perfect thing to have for this young and inexperienced team. Some will sink, others will swim, and at the end of the day it will be the strongest that survive. That is exactly what this team needs to become, and Montgomery has to ensure that it happens.
He gets the final say on the opening night roster, and for the future, Steen is going to have to rely on his head coach to make the right decisions. Steen is going to have a long tenure in his spot, but his greenness at the position makes leaning on Montgomery make sense.
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