ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Blues are parting ways with head coach Craig Berube, the only coach to lead the franchise to a Stanley Cup title in its half-century-plus history.
The Blues announced late Tuesday evening that Berube was relieved of duties, just hours after the team’s 6-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings that extended a losing steak to four games.
St. Louis has named Drew Bannister as the interim head coach. He had been serving as the head coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds, the AHL affiliate of the Blues.
Berube spent parts of six seasons with the Blues, a tenure that ended with a 206-132-44 record in St. Louis. He replaced Mike Yeo as the interim head coach in November 2018, working with a team that was dead last nearly halfway through that season and eventually securing the team’s first and only Stanley Cup title seven months later.
Berube coached the Blues to four consecutive playoff berths from 2019-2022, but has weathered through some tougher times since then. Last season, the Blues fared 37-38-7 for 81 points, their worst finish in nearly a decade in a half. After Tuesday’s loss, also Berube’s final game coach, the Blues sit below .500 mark at 13-14-1 with roughly one-third of the season complete.
Berube was roughly midway through a three-year contract extension that carried through the 2024-25 season.
Meanwhile, interim head coach Drew Bannister will report to St. Louis on Wednesday and coach his first game Thursday as the Blues host the Ottawa Senators, according to a news release from the Blues.
Bannister has served as the Thunderbirds’ coach for the last three seasons, helping the Blues’ AHL affiliate to the Calder Cup Final in 2022. Bannister had 164 games of NHL experience from 1996-2002 and has taken on various professional hockey coaching roles since 2012 in the AHL and Ontario Hockey League.
This is a developing story. Check back for more details.