Doug Armstrong sat at the blue-draped desk at 10:33 a.m., and across the 38 minutes that followed on Wednesday morning in Maryland Heights, there was no mistaking where the burden to turn around the Blues now falls.
It’s right at Armstrong’s feet.
“If I get fired in the next hour or I get hit by a bus in the next hour, I don’t feel today I’ve left it any better than where I found it,†Armstrong said of his tenure in St. Louis. “That’s an awful feeling.â€
Hours after the Blues fired coach Craig Berube, the 11-year general manager of the Blues met with reporters to go over the decision to axe the only Stanley Cup-winning coach in franchise history and lay out a partial road map for escaping the franchise’s current position as a middling club in the Western Conference.
“There just wasn’t a feeling that there was something there was going to change today if we just came in and went back to work that would make tomorrow different,†Armstrong said. “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 that we can focus on was the head coach. Now, when you make that change, we’re getting now to the center of the hourglass. That’s myself, and that’s the players.â€
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The Blues installed Drew Bannister as the team’s interim head coach, bringing him up from AHL affiliate Springfield, where he was the head coach. Bannister was traveling to St. Louis on Wednesday and will coach his first game on Thursday against the Senators.
Armstrong said Bannister is not guaranteed to be the team’s interim head coach through the rest of the season and that the Blues are currently looking to hire a new coach. There is no timeline on hiring a permanent replacement, Armstrong said.
That decision will be Armstrong’s to make, as will the other ones he faces to reshape a Blues roster that has started the season 13-14-1 and is riding a four-game losing streak after Tuesday night’s 6-4 loss to the Red Wings.
“Roster changes are hard to make,†Armstrong said. “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: player-wise, management-wise, obviously the coach has been changed. If we could move chairs on the Titanic, I guess we would. It’s harder to do. This wasn’t a decision that was made (with) the players are doing their best, we’ve just got a bad coach. That’s by far not how I feel.â€
Berube spent parts of six seasons with the Blues and won the Stanley Cup in 2019 as an interim coach after taking over for Mike Yeo. Berube ranked third in Blues history with 382 games coached, 206 wins, 51 playoff games and 24 playoff wins.
Longest-tenured NHL coaches after Berube firing
Coach | Team | Hire date |
---|---|---|
Jon Cooper | Lightning | March 2013 |
Mike Sullivan | Penguins | December 2015 |
Jared Bednar | Avalanche | August 2016 |
Rod Brind’Amour | Hurricanes | May 2018 |
Todd McClelland | Kings | April 2019 |
“We built a friendship over the years, and it’s difficult to have that talk with him last night,†Armstrong said. “He’s a true professional. We talked a little bit, we had a beer, we reminisced for a second ... and now, my job is to move forward. Craig will now regroup, and he’ll land on his feet. He’s too good of a coach not to be in this league.â€
In the bigger picture, Armstrong is faced with not only hiring the next coach but also guiding the Blues through a transition that hovers somewhere between a retool and a rebuild.
Entering this season, Armstrong understood that this Blues team was different from the ones he assembled previously. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were not supposed to contend for a Stanley Cup. He placed expectations on finishing third in the Central Division or ending in the upper part of the middle third of NHL teams.
Even as the Blues spent the first month and a half in playoff position in the Western Conference, Armstrong wasn’t pleased with how the Blues played. Game to game, they were inconsistent, either winning big or losing big. Within games, the ability to push back was absent, as one goal by the opponent quickly became two or three. Many times, the Blues leaned on Jordan Binnington to backstop them to points.
Armstrong pointed to wins over Arizona and Buffalo where the result (a win) didn’t reflect how poorly the Blues played.
“What I would have liked to have seen more from our team is a more consistent game,†Armstrong said. “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.â€
The breaking point for Armstrong came in the past week, when the Blues lost four straight games, including three to teams at various stages of a rebuilding phase: Columbus, Chicago and Detroit. St. Louis played the Blue Jackets and Red Wings after those teams played the night before and lost both games.
“I don’t know if we’re a better team than our record indicates, I really don’t,†Armstrong said. “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. You know what? If we’re not good enough, we’re not good enough. Arrogance? Ignorance? I can’t believe that anyone could put up those last three rosters that we played and our roster and think we should lose all three of those games.â€
Going back to last season’s disappointment with a team that actually was supposed to contend for the Cup, the Blues have been one of the NHL’s worst teams. They are 25th in points percentage, 29th on the power play and 30th on the penalty kill, all areas in which the Blues previously thrived under Armstrong’s watch.
“Our power play is at or near the bottom,†Armstrong said. “Our penalty kill is at our near the bottom. Our point total is at our 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, 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.â€
Now, Armstrong is left with a roster that is bumping up against the salary cap, with expensive long-term contracts on the books, a lack of consistent identity and finds itself below .500 for the first time since Nov. 1.
It’s a mess that he made himself with a parade of no-trade clauses and mismanaged assets, particularly on defense. Asked if he was worried about his own job security, Armstrong said no and, “I’m going to work as hard as I can until I’m told I no longer work here.â€
As for an escape route for the Blues, Armstrong said he’s willing to explore tactics he hasn’t executed so far during his time in St. Louis.
“These aren’t threats; who cares about threats?†Armstrong said. “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?â€
Until Armstrong hires a new coach, or is able to dump salary or acquire game breakers, Berube’s firing will be his most recent move, and Armstrong acknowledged “this is my problem.â€
“I believe in my ability to manage hockey teams,†Armstrong said. “I believe in the knowledge I’ve accumulated over 30 years. You don’t sleep last night, but I’m excited to go back to work today. I’m excited to work here until they tell me not to work here.â€