Following Tuesday’s 6-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, the St. Louis Blues announced that head coach Craig Berube has been fired. In coordination with the move, the team named Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL) head coach Drew Bannister as the Blues interim coach.
Berube had served as the Blues head coach for the past six seasons, and his current three-year contract lasted through the 2024-25 season. He led the Blues to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2019 and had a 206-132-44 record during his time with the team.
St. Louis qualified for the postseason in each of the first four seasons under Berube but only won a single playoff series after winning the Stanley Cup in 2019.
The Blues have a 13-14-1 record (27 points) and sit in sixth place in the Central Division. They’re currently on a four-game losing streak and have been outscored 20-10 over that span.
“We got to earn it. You got to play the right way 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 front of our net very well tonight,” Berube said following Tuesday’s loss.
Bannister has spent the past three seasons as the Thunderbirds head coach and racked up a 93-58-19 regular-season record during that span. The 49-year-old also led Springfield to back-to-back playoff seasons, including reaching the Calder Cup Final during the 2021-22 campaign.
Bannister embarked on his coaching career in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), where he served as an assistant coach with the Owen Sound Attack followed by three seasons as the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds head coach. He also was the head coach of the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage and an associate coach for the Utica Comets.
He also spent time as an NHL defenseman and logged 164 NHL regular-season games as a member of the Anaheim Ducks, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, and Tampa Bay Lightning.
