Confirmed with Link: Blues name Drew Bannister head coach, lifting interim tag with 2-year extension

[AjaxManifesto]

Blues name Drew Bannister head coach, lifting interim tag with 2-year extension

After replacing Craig Berube in mid-December, Bannister led the Blues to a record of 30-19-5 through the end of the regular season.

theathletic.com

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[AjaxManifesto]

Non paywall article

Bannister signs 2-year contract to remain Blues coach | NHL.com

Went 30-19-5 after replacing Berube on Dec. 14

www.nhl.com

 

[BlueDream]

Yeah this is about what I expected. It was clear Carle wants to stay at DU and there’s not really another can’t miss candidate out there.

Unless Bannister really takes the reins of this job and never looks back, I currently view him as the stop-gap until we can get Montgomery or the guy we truly want.

 

[Sgt Schultz]

Yeah this is about what I expected. It was clear Carle wants to stay at DU and there’s not really another can’t miss candidate out there.

Unless Bannister really takes the reins of this job and never looks back, I currently view him as the stop-gap until we can get Montgomery or the guy we truly want.

I see a lot of truth in this. The question that had to be in the forefront of this is whether the team is in a position that nabbing anyone specific could make a difference and lead them to great things. I don't think tapping Bannister means the answer is a hard "no," but rather "not in 2024-25" or "it's too early."

This also gives Bannister a chance to prove himself over a full season. and avoids hiring someone to just be a place holder.

I'm not expecting great strides next season, but I am open to (and hoping) to be proven wrong.

 

[WeWentBlues]

Would rather have kept Berube if this is the path they are going to go down.

 

[mk80]

My reaction is just neutral to this. It’s fine, and means that we likely weren’t getting a candidate at the top of the list.

But I also don’t fully expect him to be here at the end of his 2 year contract.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Truthfully I think he earned the opportunity. But I can agree with the sentiment that this probably isn’t a long term thing.

 

[WeWentBlues]

Confirming what Armstrong already told us in his end of season presser. Waiving the white flag for next year and setting the expectations really low for the offseason and next season.

This extension makes the Berube firing even more perplexing. If the results on the ice don't matter, which is basically what this extension signals, then why in the hell fire Berube in the first place? Paying more money now for two coaches.

 

[Mike Liut]

I don’t hate it. We are heading into year 3 of a 5 year re-tool

 

[Vladys Gumption]

Confirming what Armstrong already told us in his end of season presser. Waiving the white flag for next year and setting the expectations really low for the offseason and next season.

This extension makes the Berube firing even more perplexing. If the results on the ice don't matter, which is basically what this extension signals, then why in the hell fire Berube in the first place? Paying more money now for two coaches.

Not necessarily. If they expect to be bad and are focusing on developing young players then I think it’s likely they felt Berube wasn’t the best choice. Bannister did a nice job in Springfield so that likely was a positive in his favor.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Not necessarily. If they expect to be bad and are focusing on developing young players then I think it’s likely they felt Berube wasn’t the best choice. Bannister did a nice job in Springfield so that likely was a positive in his favor.

That's how I see it. The development of our young players is paramount. If we win enough games to make the playoffs, great, but the focus is on developing the youngsters that will be arriving in the next 1-2 seasons.

 

[Louie the Blue]

Confirming what Armstrong already told us in his end of season presser. Waiving the white flag for next year and setting the expectations really low for the offseason and next season.

This extension makes the Berube firing even more perplexing. If the results on the ice don't matter, which is basically what this extension signals, then why in the hell fire Berube in the first place? Paying more money now for two coaches.

Because every coach has a shelf life and their messaging gets tuned out at some point.

Chief is a great coach, but if everyone isn’t buying in, it doesn’t help develop players.

I am fine with Bannister being the guy after a thorough search vs naming him full-time immediately after the season ended.

 

[WeWentBlues]

Don't forget where Berube was promoted from and what his perceived strengths were before the Cup year.

 

[Louie the Blue]

Don't forget where Berube was promoted from and what his perceived strengths were before the Cup year.

He was promoted to assistant and then HC because he worked a decent amount of players in Chicago.

A majority of those players are gone now.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Two things jumped out in the presser:

1. Armstrong lamented all the coaching changes around the league over the last ~36 months, doesn't think it's a good thing, doesn't think it's healthy, thinks it would be good if teams showed more patience with guys, something to that effect. No one on the call said a word about the fact that Armstrong fired a head coach about 6 months ago and only has Bannister under contract for 2 years, meaning it's entirely possible he's changing head coaches twice within 36 months himself.

2. He made a comment to the effect of "I believe time is an asset, you make use of that" and not rushing into decisions. Yet here we are ~2 weeks after his end-of-season presser where he said he had candidates he wanted to talk to, had a few that he couldn't talk to because their teams were in the playoffs, and after he and his inner circle discussed two - count that with me: 1, ..., ........ 2 - other guys he inks Bannister for 2 years.

 

[Blueston]

Two things jumped out in the presser:

1. Armstrong lamented all the coaching changes around the league over the last ~36 months, doesn't think it's a good thing, doesn't think it's healthy, thinks it would be good if teams showed more patience with guys, something to that effect. No one on the call said a word about the fact that Armstrong fired a head coach about 6 months ago and only has Bannister under contract for 2 years, meaning it's entirely possible he's changing head coaches twice within 36 months himself.

2. He made a comment to the effect of "I believe time is an asset, you make use of that" and not rushing into decisions. Yet here we are ~2 weeks after his end-of-season presser where he said he had candidates he wanted to talk to, had a few that he couldn't talk to because their teams were in the playoffs, and after he and his inner circle discussed two - count that with me: 1, ..., ........ 2 - other guys he inks Bannister for 2 years.

he had done legwork on coaching search during season, presumably doing initial research on multitude of candidates. he was pleased with job bannister did and plan was to hire him unless he got dream candidate. he basically told us that at his EOS presser. we can basically confirm now what we suspected then, that he wanted to wait to see if monty became available and whether carle was fit. it now seems clear that monty isn't going to be available this summer. presumably either carle isn't ready to leave DU or we didn't think he was ready for the job or he didn't want our job, because it's been reported that army was planning on speaking with him. so he is moving forward with bannister, which was always the most likely scenario (based on what he had told us previously). not sure why any of this would be a surprise and how any of his comments are at odds with this basic story that has now unfolded more fully.

 

[TheDizee]

Dumb.

Army needs to go.

Truthfully I think he earned the opportunity. But I can agree with the sentiment that this probably isn’t a long term thing.

So why are not we waiting to find a long term thing? This is idiotic to make this move when someone like Brindamour might be available soon.

Confirming what Armstrong already told us in his end of season presser. Waiving the white flag for next year and setting the expectations really low for the offseason and next season.

This extension makes the Berube firing even more perplexing. If the results on the ice don't matter, which is basically what this extension signals, then why in the hell fire Berube in the first place? Paying more money now for two coaches.

Cause hes a overrated GM with a ego.

 

[stl76]

Good for Bannister! Seems like a decent person and a pretty good coach. Hopefully his experience in jrs/AHL will help with developing prospects and young players the next couple years.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

we can basically confirm now what we suspected then

Everything from this point forward is pure speculation.

that he wanted to wait to see if monty became available and whether carle was fit. it now seems clear that monty isn't going to be available this summer. presumably either carle isn't ready to leave DU or we didn't think he was ready for the job or he didn't want our job, because it's been reported that army was planning on speaking with him.

Really? The only candidates worth considering might be Carle and Montgomery? There are no other candidates out there, even if we have to wait for their teams' seasons to end, that on May 7 after discussing 2 candidates - one maybe you talked to and he didn't want to come here / you talked to and didn't think he was ready, the other you couldn't talk to because his team advanced - that you say "welp boys, the search is over, we've found our guy, this is as good as it gets?"

That is utter horseshit. Par for the course, on SO many levels, but utter horseshit.

 

[Blueston]

Everything from this point forward is pure speculation.


Really? The only candidates worth considering might be Carle and Montgomery? There are no other candidates out there, even if we have to wait for their teams' seasons to end, that on May 7 after discussing 2 candidates - one maybe you talked to and he didn't want to come here / you talked to and didn't think he was ready, the other you couldn't talk to because his team advanced - that you say "welp boys, the search is over, we've found our guy, this is as good as it gets?"

That is utter horseshit. Par for the course, on SO many levels, but utter horseshit.

nobody said that they were the only 2 candidates. i said we were waiting on those 2 (and we may have interviewed others, but those names haven't leaked). and yes, that is speculation, but it is consistent with what we know and only makes small logical leaps; that almost qualifies as fact on here!

regardless, are you upset that we hired bannister? that we didn't hire evason or gallant or whomever? or do you just want to complain about army again because he misused a particular word a couple press conferences ago?

 

[Brian39]

This extension makes the Berube firing even more perplexing. If the results on the ice don't matter, which is basically what this extension signals, then why in the hell fire Berube in the first place? Paying more money now for two coaches.

Results:

We finished with 81 points in 2022/23 and then Berube had the team on a 79 point pace when he was relieved of duties this year.

The Blues went 30-19-5 under Bannister, which is a 98.7 point pace, right at the playoff cut line.

We can debate all we want about how we got to those records, but there is just no argument that the results on the ice didn't change. We got noticeably better results under Bannister than we'd gotten over the previous 110 games under Berube.

How does this extension signal that results on the ice don't matter? How does it suggest that the Berube firing made no sense? The results are that the team went from being a 79-81 point team to a 98 point team. That's a huge jump.

I have concerns that the record under Bannister isn't repeatable, but that is a hell of a different argument than talking about results.

 

[PocketNines]

This is such a treading water deal, very meh, and since the Blues aren't making the playoffs next year they could fire him and hire their dream candidate if he is available June 2025.

Also gives him a chance to plan a full offseason and focus on developing the younger players.

It was pretty obvious that at 1-0 Toronto in the third period in Boston the Blues were maybe about to get a new coach, but then everyone was like, oh that's right, this is Toronto. So we are keeping Bannister. He is somewhere in the Davis Payne / Mike Yeo ballpark, seemingly. Those guys were easy to fire, and so will be Bannister unless he makes it tough by overperforming expectations.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Dumb.

Army needs to go.


So why are not we waiting to find a long term thing? This is idiotic to make this move when someone like Brindamour might be available soon.


Cause hes a overrated GM with a ego.

if your complaint is waiting on BrindAmour or Montgomery, id imagine the short answer is they aren’t moving, or weren’t interested.

I find it hard to believe that Boston would move on from Montgomery, and I see virtually 0 reason why Carolina wouldn’t re-up BrindAmours contract.

Not to mention, why in the world would either of those coaches move on from perennial playoff teams to come sit through a couple of seasons of a rewhatever this is?

This isn’t a knee jerk oh my god we have to do something hire. But it is something that needed to be done sooner rather than later with the draft coming up.

Where do we pivot if we wait until the end of the playoffs and we don’t have a head coach and neither of those guys want to sign? And Bannister had a different offer that he accepted because he didn’t want to wait either?

Bannister coached this team to a winning record. Let’s not act like hes not suitable for the opportunity.

 

[Spektre]

Meh

 

[Blanick]

I am kind of indifferent. I feel like Bannister would be a good phase 1 coach if we were angling for a rebuild. He has experience helping shape and develop young players. However Army insist we are not in a rebuild and wants to compete next year and for that I feel like there are much better established options. It just seems like Army is saying one thing but his moves are in the different direction. After listening to his presser at the end of season I thought there was almost no chance that Bannister was the guy.

About Bannister himself I feel like he is fine coach for a team that is going to see a nice influx of young players over the next few years. So I am ok with a 2 year contract, after that we will have to see.