After St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong decided Tuesday night to fire coach Craig Berube, he called AHL Springfield coach Drew Bannister to make sure he’d be interested in the job on an interim basis. He was, and it was decided that Bannister would fly to St. Louis on Wednesday and be behind the Blues’ bench on Thursday.
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Berube, meanwhile, was addressing reporters’ questions regarding the team’s fourth loss in a row, 6-4 to Detroit. Following his last response, Berube retreated to his office, where he was soon joined by Armstrong, and the two had a beer together.
“We built a friendship over the years and it’s difficult to have that talk with him,” Armstrong said Wednesday. “I waited until the dust settled after the game. I went in, I closed the door, and he said, ‘I get it.’ I think he understands that in management and coaching, we’re all one day closer to getting that phone call you don’t want to get. I know he didn’t want the information, but I don’t think he was shocked that a decision was made.
“He’s a true professional. There’s no relief. He’s a competitor. I thanked him for everything he’s done for me personally and everything he’s done for the organization … and now it’s my job to move forward.”
Before we look forward, though, let’s look back at Tuesday night.
Did Armstrong drive to Enterprise Center for the game against the Red Wings thinking he might fire Berube afterward?
“I haven’t really slept much since the Columbus game,” he said. “Then the Chicago game was a sleepless night. Then you hoped that the Detroit game would be different. The last three games, when you read the clippings, and the players from the opposition and the coaches (are saying), ‘What a character win. What a gutsy win. I can’t believe we did that last night. We were undermanned.’ If (the opponent) feels that way about their performance, how would we feel about our performance?
“There wasn’t a feeling that something was going to change if we just came in today and went back to work. Now I don’t know if tomorrow is going to be different. I just know one of the things that has been removed from the equation was the head coach, and when you make that change, we’re now getting to the center of the hourglass. That’s myself and that’s the players.”
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So there you have it — the justification for a coaching change that took many aback. What else did Armstrong reveal in his press conference about the move and the direction he sees the organization heading? Here are the highlights.
(The questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity).
What specifically do you feel personally responsible for?
Well, that we’re not a successful franchise. These are things that you contemplate as you’re with an organization. You come to an organization because you make it better and you want to leave it in a better spot. When I got here in 2008, we were better for a long time. If I get fired in the next hour, or I get hit by a bus in the next hour, I don’t feel today that I’ve left it any better than where I’ve found it, and that’s an awful feeling.
With the club being in a self-proclaimed re-tool, what more did you want from Berube?
Not from Craig. What I would’ve liked to see from our team was a more consistent game. It’s uncomfortable when you go to the arena every night and you’re not really sure what your team is going to look like. You’re not really sure what to expect. That’s something that we haven’t felt here for a long time. Last year we entered the season with the glass half full, thinking, “It’s the last dance. We’ve got veterans on one-year deals and they’re going to want to go out with a blaze of glory,” and we just didn’t find any footing, so we made changes. But if you look at the last 82 games, plus however many this year, so 110ish, our power play is at or near the bottom. Our penalty kill is at or near the bottom. And our point total is at or near the bottom. At some point, you have to make changes. It’s not something I wanted to do. It’s not something that I wanted to start the season having to do. But it’s an area where we find ourselves … the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and think things are going to change. It cost a great man his role on the team because things weren’t changing.
Did Berube’s message grow stale?
Craig and I, we talked every day. I was in Europe for two weeks and we were talking: “What’s the message going to be today?” I always loved the message. And then I would set my alarm for 3 a.m. and I’d get up and watch the game, and what the message was wasn’t transpiring on the ice. The two games that come to the forefront for me were the Phoenix game and the Buffalo game, where we outscored the opposition, but we didn’t win the game. We outscored who we played, but you didn’t walk away saying, “We outplayed that team.” There were more nights than not where I felt we didn’t win the game. You’re going to be the better team in this league and lose. That happens. … But we didn’t win enough small battles during a game to win enough games. Not by the score, but by the eye test of you were a better team.
"It's time to pull the rope in the right direction, dig in and buy in as a group. Chief's the guy that takes the fall for it, but it's on the players in this locker room to be better."
Hear from Brayden Schenn and Jordan Binnington on the coaching change. pic.twitter.com/MRAqPptXqF
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) December 13, 2023
In November 2022, you said Berube wasn’t the problem, that it was a compete issue. What changed?
We were a team that was expected to be good with veteran players that he had gotten the most out of. We had gotten 110 points the year before, and that would’ve been four or five weeks into the season. So, what has changed? A year has changed. A year of information has changed.
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Did you consider making other changes with the coaching staff?
I have made a change. I haven’t really told anybody, but (former NHL forward) Brad Richards, he came on a few days ago. He’s going to work as a consultant for us from a distance. He’ll wake up in the morning and see our power-play clips. He’ll talk to Steve Ott, who runs the power play, about what they’re seeing. It’s just another avenue and another voice from the outside. Sometimes you can’t see the forest through the trees, and I’m hoping Brad can bring in a different perspective.
How did you decide to make a head coaching change vs. roster changes?
Roster changes are hard to make. I’ve talked to teams. I’ve seen what’s out there. I’ve seen what you’re able to do. Nobody should feel safe in our group right now. I mean, player-wise, management-wise. If we could move chairs on the Titanic, I guess we would. (But) it’s harder to do. This wasn’t a decision that was made (with the belief) that the players are doing their best and we’ve just got a bad coach. That’s by far not how I feel.
Did the team lose its identity with the departures of Alex Pietrangelo, Ryan O’Reilly, etc.?
Yeah. It has. There’s been attrition just because that’s how the salary cap works. Some players we tried very hard to keep and it didn’t work out, and some players we didn’t try very hard to keep. But that’s around the league; that happens everywhere. I get, “Let’s keep the band together until 2040.” It doesn’t work that way, so we’ve moved on. But there’s a responsibility of the guys that are here to continue that. That’s where I go back to right now, this group isn’t better than when I found it. And if I feel that way, I assume the players in the room that weren’t here for the glory have to feel even worse.
You’ve said that you want to remain competitive during the re-tool. After 28 games, do you still find this to be feasible?
I think that we’re a better team than our play indicates. I don’t know if we’re a better team than our record indicates, I really don’t. But I know we’re a better team than our play indicates. I think those ebbs and flows are what I’m looking to minimize. And then, you know what? If we’re not good enough, then we’re not good enough. But arrogance? Ignorance? I can’t believe that anyone could put up those last three rosters that we played, and our roster, and think that we should lose all three of those games.
Are you still confident that you can fix this?
Yeah, I know what we need to look like. To me, it’s not just based on wins and losses. It’s based on … like St. Louis, they’re smart. The fans are smart. They know when they leave the building whether they got their money’s worth, and we’ve got to give them their money’s worth on a more consistent effort. If you’re going to take 2 1/2 hours out of your night to turn on a hockey game, you should feel that it was worth your while. I don’t think we do that enough right now. That’s not a winning brand of hockey and that’s not a winning culture for an organization.
If the club doesn’t improve, can you make changes with a roster that has a lot of long-term contracts and no-trade clauses?
Yeah. I’m not against buying players out. It’s not something that you feel is your first course of action. But I’m also not against, if players aren’t pulling their weight, they go to the American Hockey League. If we have to put players in the American Hockey League, 31 other teams get to decide, ‘Are they worth that amount of money?’ What’s going to happen, if we get to that point, it’ll be some teams like the player but can’t afford them, and then we go to work to see if we can find a way to make it work for everybody. But nothing can be off the table as far as responses now for management.
Rutherford: Doug Armstrong's roster, not Craig Berube's coaching, is root of Blues' issues. https://t.co/wYXClXs5EH
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) December 13, 2023
What would you say to fans who believe that you’re at fault because of the roster construction?
That I believe in these players. My name is on everyone’s contract: Craig’s contract, the coaches’ contracts, the scouts’ contracts, the trainers’ contracts and the players’ contracts. So this is my problem. Now, I believe that a change may spark a different result. I think (the fans) are smart enough to realize what a different result looks like, and it doesn’t have to be a win and a loss. That’s what I’ll be judged on. I believe in my ability to manage hockey teams. I believe in the knowledge that I’ve accumulated over 30 years. You don’t sleep last night, but I’m excited to go back to work today. I believe in myself, and that’s all I can say. Whether other people believe in me or not, I can’t control that, so I don’t get consumed by it.
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Do you personally feel worried about your job security?
No. I mean, I don’t control that. I’m a big believer in you just control what you can control. I can control what my attitude is when I get to work. I can control how hard I work when I’m here. I’m going to work as hard as I can until I’m told no longer to work here.
(Photo of Doug Armstrong: Jeff Curry / USA Today)
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