One week later, and it's still taking some getting used to. Doug Armstrong is no longer the general manager of the St. Louis Blues, and Alex Steen has taken the reins of the organization. One of Armstrong's final acts was running the draft at the end of June, but he also made a pretty important personnel change late in his tenure: hiring Greg Cronin as assistant coach to Jim Montgomery.
With Armstrong gone and Steen at the helm, Montgomery's seat could be getting quite warm.
The Blues originally hired Montgomery mid-season after he was fired from the Boston Bruins, quickly moving on from Drew Bannister just a couple of months into his tenure as head coach of the Blues. St. Louis went on a late-season tear in 2024-25, sneaking into the playoffs and coming within mere seconds of upsetting the Presidents' Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets in round one. After that season's success, expectations were pretty high headed into the following season.
Alas, the 2025-26 season was a borderline disaster. The Blues stumbled out of the gate and never recovered, flirting with the worst record in the league for stretches of the year. It wasn't until after the trade deadline--and departures of Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk--that things started to turn around for them, but it was too little, too late: the Blues played themselves out of a top-10 draft selection and missed the playoffs by a handful of points.
It was Montgomery's first full season with the team, and they failed to live up to expectations at almost every turn. Hiring Montgomery was Armstrong's decision, and while Steen was already being prepped to take over the role of general manager, he may wish to make his own stamp on the team. If the Blues falter early in the 2026-27 season, we could see Steen give Montgomery the axe and hand the reins over to Cronin--a coach the newly acquired Mason McTavish has plenty of experience with.
For Montgomery's peace of mind, he'd better hope the team starts strong--otherwise, it could be the end of his time in St. Louis.
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