Blues name Bannister head coach, removing interim tag
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMIZ)
The St. Louis Blues removed the interim tag from Drew Bannister's name plate, on Tuesday morning. STL general manager Doug Armstrong announced that the club has named Bannister as the 27th head coach in franchise history, signing him to a two-year extension.
Bannister was put into the interim role in Dec. of 2023, when the Blues fired former head coach Craig Berube. In the 54 regular season games that he led behind the bench, the Note went 30-19-5, with 65 points. That finish stood as the 12th best points percentage during that span. The Blues also had the 10th best home record, as the club went 18-9-2 at the Enterprise Center to finish out the season.
The 50-year-old guided St. Louis to some pretty significant improvements in his short time in charge. According to the club, the Blues jumped from 23rd to 12th in goals-against per game, 31st to 13th in power play, 20th to 13th in penalty kill and 21st to 16th in the final regular season standings. Although the Blues did still miss the playoffs, all those improvements resulted in an 11-point improvement.
Bannister, a native of Ontario, has been with the Blues organization for the past six seasons. Before he stepped into the interim role, he spent time at the Blues' AHL affiliate in Springfield, where he led that team to a 933-58-19 regular season record. In his time in southern Missouri, the Thunderbirds won the Eastern Conference and reached the Calder Cup Final.
He first got his start in coaching in the Ontario Hockey League, otherwise known as the OHL. He spent three seasons as an assistant with the Owen Sound, from 2012 to 2015. Bannister then moved up to his first head coaching role later in 2015, as the leader of the Soo Greyhounds.
In 1992, Bannister was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning and played 20 years in the NHL. He dressed for 164 regular season games in a career that spanned from Tampa Bay, Edmonton, Anaheim to New York.
