The St. Louis Blues fired their head coach Craig Berube. The team confirmed the news on Tuesday night while revealing that Drew Bannister, coach of their AHL affiliate Springfield Thunderbirds, will take over from Berube on an interim basis.
The Blues are moving on from Berube, who brought the franchise its only Stanley Cup, following a skid that included six losses in the past eight games. The 57-year-old coach had two more years left on his contract.
Berube took over St. Louis Blues as an interim head coach after the team fired Mike Yeo following a 7–9–3 start to the 2018-19 season. Berube would go on to finish the season at 45-28-9 and lead the Blues to a remarkable run that saw them capture their first Stanley Cup.
Since then, St. Louis made three more playoff trips but didn’t progress further than the second round under Berube. The 2022-23 campaign was particularly disappointing, as the team missed the postseason and finished with less than 40 wins in a full season for the first time since 2010–11.
Bannister has served as the head coach of the Thunderbirds since 2020 and has made the AHL playoffs twice during his time in charge. The former NHL defenseman also coached the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and AHL’s San Antonio Rampage.
