Greg Wyshynski, ESPND13. December 2023, 12:43 a.m. ET
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- Greg Wyshynski is ESPN's senior NHL writer.
The struggling St. Louis Blues fired coach Craig Berube on Tuesday evening.
Drew Bannister, coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds, St. Louis' AHL affiliate, has been named the team's interim coach by president of hockey operations Doug Armstrong. Bannister will travel to St. Louis on Wednesday and play his first game behind the bench on Thursday when the Blues host the Ottawa Senators.
Berube, 57, had a three-year contract that ran until the 2024/25 season. He led the Blues to the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history in the 2018-19 season.
The Blues fell to 13-14-1 this season after a 6-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings and blew three leads in the game. It was the fourth defeat in a row and the sixth defeat in the last eight games.
“We have to earn it. You have to play right to earn it. Do the little things right. We scored enough goals to win the game. But in the end we didn't take care of the top of our net.” “Very good tonight,” said Berube after the defeat.
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St. Louis is one point out of the final wild card spot in the Western Conference. The Blues rank 26th in goals per game and 22nd in goals conceded per game this season. They suffered from the lack of performance from top players like Jordan Kyrou (5 goals in 28 games).
“It’s easy to see from the outside,” Blues striker Kevin Hayes said after the loss. “Get back to work, regroup, get back to our structure and what we did when we won games.”
This was Berube's sixth season as Blues coach, in which he went 206-132-44. He was signed for 19 games of the 2018/19 season and oversaw one of the most dramatic turnarounds in NHL history: from last place in the Western Conference in January to winning the Cup in June.
The Blues made the playoffs the next three seasons, but only won one series. They missed the postseason last season.
Berube previously coached the Philadelphia Flyers from 2013 to 2015.
Bannister, 49, spent the last three seasons with the Blues' AHL affiliate, reaching the playoffs the last two seasons. That included a trip to the Calder Cup final in his first season. He was an NHL defenseman for six seasons from 1995 to 2001, playing 164 games.