Firing Berube the latest change for Blues
With but one playoff series win since rubbing out the Bruins in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, the Blues on Tuesday night tossed Craig Berube onto the coaching scrap heap, where he joined Jay Woodcroft (ex-Oilers) and Dean Evason (ex-Wild).
St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong made the change following a 6-4 loss to the Red Wings, which the next morning had the Blues (13-14-1) parked 1 point out of a wild-card playoff seed in the West. Frankly, not all that bad, considering the uninspiring roster, along with the spotty netminding of Jordan Binnington.
The Blues in February offloaded top forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko, the latter of whom was a perpetual salary headache and doomed to be a greater one upon becoming an unrestricted free agent after last season. Tarasenko, after a stop with the Rangers, eventually had to scramble for a one-year deal in Ottawa at $5 million, a one-third pay cut from his last deal with the Blues.
Before the 2020-21 season, the Blues watched as franchise defenseman Alex Pietrangelo hot-footed it to Vegas as a UFA. Only a season after being the backbone of the Blues’ title-winning team, the 30-year-old Pietrangelo was lost to the desert, where he etched his name on the Cup a second time this past June.
O’Reilly, among the game’s top glue guys (see: 2019 title run), landed in Nashville for $18 million/four years. Like Tarasenko, also a sizable pay cut, but he took term for what he felt was a solid fit (without trade protection). He has been among the Predators’ top three scorers all season, averaging upward of a point per game, a touch better than his career average.
All in all, the Blues managed their stable of proven player personnel with what we would call Red Sox-like efficiency and foresight. A smattering of interesting parts, but not enough to respond to Berube’s emotion-charged approach.
Now it’s up to Drew Bannister, promoted from AHL Springfield, to step into his first NHL gig and make some magic with the Blues. It was the same scenario that was presented to Kris Knoblauch in Edmonton, albeit with Connor McDavid, the league’s reigning MVP, the centerpiece of the Oilers roster.
Edmonton was a woeful 3-9-1 upon Knoblauch’s arrival. While Bannister was packing up in Springfield, the Oilers were in the midst of securing their eighth straight win, improving to 103-0 under Knoblauch, who had been hired from AHL Hartford. Former Boston University forward John Hynes took over for Evason in St. Paul, the Wild 5-10-4 at the time of the change. They won five of their first seven with Hynes.
“Accountability and compete,” said Armstrong, asked what he wanted Bannister to bring.
We’ll find out soon if there is a Bannister bump for that uninspiring Blues roster.
Meanwhile, who could be the next one jettisoned from behind an NHL bench? The most obvious choice would be D.J. Smith, now in his fifth season with the Senators and yet to guide them to a playoff berth. They have a lineup loaded with young talent, but are last in the East (22 points).
Bannister made his Blues debut Thursday with a 4-2 win over Smith’s Senators.