Drew Bannister is out as coach of the St. Louis Blues after less than a full calendar year on the job. Jim Montgomery is back behind the bench of an NHL team five days after he was fired by the Boston Bruins.

The Blues fired Bannister on Sunday and hired Montgomery as his replacement, a stunning move a quarter of the way through the NHL season that puts a seasoned coach in charge of shepherding St. Louis through a retooling period and into the potential re-opening of the organization’s Stanley Cup-contending window.

President and general manager Doug Armstrong said he did not anticipate making a change until Montgomery became a free agent.

“This was more of an opportunity to get someone of Jim’s caliber than anything else,” Armstrong said on a video call with reporters. “When I talked to Drew today, I told him this was more of a decision based on the availability of someone I think is a top NHL coach, someone that we have experience with, someone I really do believe can coach this team and also coach the team when it reaches its ultimate level of competitiveness.”

Armstrong showed no hesitation in cutting ties with Bannister, who had the interim tag removed from his title and became the full-time coach in May. Bannister was promoted from Springfield of the American Hockey League to replace 2019 Cup-winning coach Craig Berube last December, and the Blues missed the playoffs despite winning 30 of their final 54 games.

The Blues lost 13 of their first 22 games this season. Only two teams have scored fewer than their 2.36 goals a game, and they rank in the bottom third of the league on the power play and penalty kill while ravaged by injuries.

“It wasn’t an easy situation for him to walk into,” Armstrong said, adding he felt Bannister was learning on the fly as a first-time NHL head coach. “He was making mistakes. We were all making mistakes. … I was more than willing to go through the peaks and valleys with Drew until Monty became available.”

Montgomery, 55, is tasked with getting the most out of the talent available, something he has accomplished elsewhere. Every team he has coached for a full season has qualified for the playoffs, and his .659 points percentage ranks among the best in NHL history.

“He’s got a wealth of experience, and he’s at really the prime of his coaching career,” Armstrong said. “He’s the full package, or at least we hope he’s the full package.”

The Bruins opted to move on from Montgomery after their rough start, going 8-9-3, with the final defeat being a 5-1 home loss to Columbus. Boston won 120 of 184 regular-season games with Montgomery running the show, including setting the league records for victories and points in 2021-22 when he was the obvious choice for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year.

His second act as a head coach in the NHL came after Montgomery’s first ended abruptly. Hired by the Dallas Stars in 2018, he led them to the second round and then was fired in December 2019 for unprofessional conduct.

Montgomery called his dismissal appropriate, entered rehab and began putting his life back together.

“He’s obviously gone through things at the rink and away from the rink that defined who he is today,” Armstrong said.

Montgomery got his re-entry into hockey from the Blues, with Armstrong hiring Montgomery as an assistant on Berube’s staff in September 2020. That was the first sign of the longtime executive’s affinity for Montgomery, and the latest comes with job security. St. Louis signed him to a five-year contract.

Montgomery is the latest coach to be fired and re-hired midseason, a more common occurrence in the NHL than most professional sports leagues. Being out of a job for mere days is reminiscent of Bruce Boudreau’s experience in 2011, when he was fired by Washington on a Monday morning and replaced Randy Carlyle in Anaheim later that week.

This is the 23rd coaching change among the league’s 32 teams since January 2023, with the Blues among those making multiple moves in that time.

“A coach that I believe is a difference-maker became available, and we reacted to it,” Armstrong said. “We have a top-level NHL coach, and now it’s time for all of us to do our jobs and support him.”

Captain Sidney Crosby scored his 600th NHL goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night during his team’s 6-1 loss to the Utah Hockey Club.

Crosby is the 21st player in NHL history to reach the milestone. He landed at 600 with 10 seconds left on a 5-on-3 power play, giving him seven goals in his past 12 games. Crosby finished a one-timer from the right side of the net, set up on a pass from Erik Karlsson at 3:11 of the second period.

“It’s hard to say. There’s lots of time to think about that, when I’m done playing,” Crosby said on the game broadcast when asked where No. 600 ranked on his list of career accomplishments. “But it’s nice to get it. I’ve been hovering right around it.”

According to ESPN Research, Crosby, the No. 1 pick by the Penguins in the 2005 NHL draft, is the seventh player in league history to score 600 goals for a single franchise and the second to do so with Pittsburgh, after Mario Lemieux finished his career with 690 goals.

“It means a lot,” Crosby said when asked how special the accomplishment is to have done so entirely for Pittsburgh. “Obviously, I’ve been here for a long time. And to be able to do it at home and have another memory, it’s special, and happy to see it go in.”

After the goal was announced, the crowd gave Crosby a standing ovation. The Penguins captain acknowledged the fans and raised his stick in the air. His parents, Troy and Trina, were in attendance for the moment.

After the game, however, his thoughts had already turned to his team and its struggles this season.

“It’s not enjoyable, obviously,” Crosby said after Pittsburgh lost for the 14th time in 18 games. “It was a nice reception and a cool moment. I thought we got some momentum and we were doing some good things, and [Utah] got one shortly after. Even with that, we were still in the game, but it got away from us.”

Dylan Guenther scored twice for Utah, while Nick Bjugstad, Jack McBain, Mikhail Sergachev and Alexander Kerfoot also scored. Karel Vejmelka stopped 27 shots for Utah.

Karlsson surpassed Borje Salming for 15th place on the NHL’s career assists list among defensemen. Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves for Pittsburgh.

Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are the only active players with at least 600 NHL goals.

Pittsburgh is the second team in NHL history with multiple 600-goal scorers, joining the Detroit Red Wings‘ Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Joe Thornton spent a career setting up his teammates with the perfect passes that helped them score goals.

His jersey retirement ceremony Saturday was an opportunity for his former San Jose teammates to dish out the compliments for his play, leadership and friendship in tributes that repeatedly forced him to wipe away tears on an emotional afternoon.

“The best thing hockey ever gave me — friends for life,” Thornton said during a lengthy speech that included thanks to his former teammates, coaches, executives and family members that helped him throughout his career.

Thornton walked out to the ceremony nattily dressed in a black suit and top hat. He walked through the current members of the Sharks — wearing fake beards in his honor — before coming through the famed Shark head to thunderous applause.

Dozens of his former teammates were on hand and gave tributes on a lengthy video to the player simply known as “Jumbo.”

“It feels good to be back,” Thornton said.

With his pinpoint passing, infectious joy and signature beard, Thornton became the face of the Sharks franchise and was honored with his No. 19 jersey being raised to the rafters.

Thornton joins longtime teammate Patrick Marleau as the only players to have their jerseys retired by the Sharks. It’s fitting that they are side by side as the entered the NHL as the top two picks in the 1997 draft and spent 13 seasons together in San Jose.

“Thank you for making hockey fun, even in the hardest moments,” Marleau said in his tribute. “I’m very thankful and honored that your banner is going to be up next to mine.”

Thornton entered the NHL as the No. 1 overall pick by Boston but had his greatest success in 15 seasons with San Jose following a trade to the Sharks on Nov. 30, 2005.

Thornton ranks first in Sharks history with 804 assists, second with 1,055 points, third with 1,104 games played and fourth with 251 goals. He helped transform the Sharks from a middling franchise to a perennial contender.

“San Jose is his city and the Sharks are his team,” former teammate Joe Pavelski said in his first public appearance at the Shark Tank since retiring last season in Dallas.

Thornton played 1,714 regular-season games over his career, recording 1,109 assists and 430 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, an Olympic gold medalist for Canada in 2010 and won the Hart Trophy as MVP and Art Ross Trophy as scoring leader in 2005-06 after getting traded early that season from Boston to San Jose.

Thornton ranks seventh alltime in assists, 14th in points with 1,539 and sixth in games played.

About the only thing Thornton didn’t accomplish was winning a Stanley Cup, losing in his only trip to the final round in 2016 with the Sharks against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But with his pristine playmaking schools and iconic beard, Thornton became the face of the Sharks franchise after being acquired from Boston on Nov. 30, 2005.

San Jose had only intermittent success before his arrival but made the playoffs all but two seasons during Thornton’s time with the Sharks with the best regular-season record in the NHL in that span.

He helped the team win the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the best record in 2008-09, make back-to-back conference finals appearances in 2010 and ’11, the Stanley Cup final in 2016 and another trip to the Western Conference final in 2019.

“Thank you, Sharks fans,” Thornton said to end his speech, “and like I said when I retired, ‘I’ll see you at the rink. Peace and love. Go Sharks.'”