The struggling St. Louis Blues fired coach Craig Berube on Wednesday night.
Drew Bannister, coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds, St. Louis’ AHL affiliate, was named the team’s interim coach by president of hockey operations Doug Armstrong. Bannister will travel to St. Louis on Wednesday and serve his first game behind the bench on Thursday when the Blues host the Ottawa Senators.
Berube, 57, had a three-year contract that ran through the 2024-25 season. He led the Blues to the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history in the 2018-19 season.
The Blues dropped to 13-14-1 on the season after a 6-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, blowing three leads in the game. It was their fourth loss in a row and sixth loss in their last eight games.
“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 after the loss.
St. Louis is one point out of the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Blues are 26th in goals per game and 22nd in goals against per game this season. They’ve been hurt by a lack of production from top players like Jordan Kyrou (5 goals in 28 games).
This was Berube’s sixth season as Blues coach, having gone 206-132-44 in the span. He was hired 19 games into the 2018-19 season and orchestrated one of the most dramatic turnarounds in NHL history: Going from last in the Western Conference in January to winning the Cup that June.
The Blues would make the playoffs for the next three seasons but only won one series. They missed the postseason last season.
Berube previously coached the Philadelphia Flyers from 2013-15.
Bannister, 49, has spent the past three seasons with the Blues’ AHL affiliate, making the playoffs in the last two seasons. That included a trip to the Calder Cup finals in his first season. He was an NHL defenseman for six seasons from 1995-2001, playing 164 games.
