Western team just made sweeping front office changes
Photo credit: Simon Fearn-Imagn Images
The Blues made a loud move Saturday, firing assistant coaches Claude Julien and Mike Weber in a surprise staff shakeup late in the calendar.
This is not a midseason panic fire. This is Doug Armstrong swinging the axe on a staff that just went 6-3-1 over its last 10 games.
Jim Montgomery stays behind the bench. His assistants do not.
Julien is the name that will grab every headline. A former Jack Adams winner and Stanley Cup champion, reduced to a one-line press release on a Saturday in April.
Doug Armstrong’s Saturday coaching purge changes the tone in St. Louis
The Blues sit 23rd overall at 37-33-12 with 86 points. Fifth in the division. That record does not scream championship staff.
They ride a four-game winning streak into this decision, which only makes the timing louder. Armstrong did not wait for a losing skid to pull the trigger.
Mike Weber was the quieter half of the pair, a defensive voice on a club that has given up 258 goals this year. The blue line needed a different message, clearly.
At home, St. Louis went 20-14-7. The Enterprise Center crowd saw enough inconsistency to know something under the hood was not working.
You can read the full news confirmation right here.
When a GM fires assistants this early in the offseason window, it usually means the head coach has been told to pick his next lieutenants or pack his own office.
Montgomery now gets to reshape his staff in his own image. That is a gift and a warning in the same envelope.
Julien's next landing spot will be the real story in the coming weeks. Big names do not stay on the market long, even after a firing like this one.
The question in St. Louis is simple. Does Armstrong believe in Montgomery enough to give him the staff he actually wants, or is this the first shoe to drop ?
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