Blues remove interim tag from HC Drew Bannister

The Blues have removed the interim tag from head coach Drew Bannister, signing him to a two-year extension Tuesday to make him the 27th permanent bench boss in franchise history. 

The deal keeps Bannister in St. Louis through the 2025-26 season and brings the number of coaching vacancies down to six, a number that’s expected to drop further this week with the Senators close to hiring Travis Green.

Bannister, 50, guided the Blues to a strong 30-19-5 record after they dismissed 2019 Stanley Cup-winning coach Craig Berube on Dec. 12. After the team started 13-14-1 under Berube, Bannister got them to 92 points on the season, finishing ninth in the Western Conference and 16th in the league overall.

The former NHL defenseman has been in the Blues organization since 2018, serving as head coach and associate head coach of their AHL affiliates for parts of six seasons before his December promotion. He began his coaching career in England while still active as a player, serving as a player-assistant for the Elite Ice Hockey League’s Hull Stingrays in 2010-11 and a player-coach for Scotland’s Braehead Clan the following season.

After hanging up his skates in the summer of 2012, Bannister returned to North America, where he immediately resumed his coaching career as an assistant with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League. 

Bannister held that role for three seasons before earning his first shot as a head coach, still in the OHL, with the Soo Greyhounds. In 2017-18, his final season with the club, the Greyhounds dominated the league with a 55-7-6 record, led by a 112-point campaign from future Flyers center Morgan Frost, earning him both CHL and OHL Coach of the Year honors. 

The Blues didn’t waste any time poaching him out of the junior ranks, appointing him head coach of the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage shortly thereafter.

The Blues are a team in transition with a rapidly aging defense corps, but they still aim to be competitive. They showed they could do that under Bannister and would have made the playoffs this season with his record had they been in the Eastern Conference. 

Even if there were more experienced candidates on the market this summer, it’s hard to argue with actual results — something Bannister delivered with his four months at the helm to close the season.