St. Louis Blues Install Their Own Coach With San Antonio Rampage
By Todd Panula
The St. Louis Blues have begun their process of overhauling their minor league system, now that they are in charge. They have now selected their first head coach for the San Antonio Rampage.
The world that is the AHL is constantly changing. The only thing that makes it different from a soap opera is that the storylines don’t always last an entire season or multiple seasons. So, as the world turns in minor league hockey, so turns another page and another coach is put in charge for the St. Louis Blues.
The Blues have named Drew Bannister as the man in charge of their AHL affiliate. While Bannister is no stranger to pro hockey, this will be his first job in charge of a professional team.
He was an assistant in the OHL to start his coaching career after a six-year NHL career with Tampa, Anaheim, Edmonton and the New York Rangers. Following his beginning with Owen Sound, he became the head coach at Sault Ste. Marie.
Bannister helped the Greyhounds to some of their best records in club history. Overall, he was 136-50-18 with the OHL squad. Bannister also led the Greyhounds to a club best 55-7-6 and 116 points in 2017-18.
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Bannister will be quite familiar with Robert Thomas as well. Though Bannister never coached Thomas, he had to gameplan against him during the OHL final, which saw Thomas’ Hamilton Bulldogs take down Bannister’s Greyhounds in six games.
Some will question promoting a relatively young coach (44) to a high position with no pro experience. We need not fear based solely on that, however.
Current head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jon Cooper, followed a similar path. He started out at the junior levels and then made some rapid jumps.
Cooper began his career with the Texarkana and then St. Louis Bandits. He translated championship success there into jobs in the USHL, AHL and then NHL.
Cooper had a few more stops before making the jump, but the pressure in Canadian junior hockey is slightly higher than the NAHL or USHL. So, in theory, Bannister already has experience with that.
Additionally, this is the perfect time to look to a coach just like Bannister. The Blues have a lot of prospects that are about to make the jump from juniors to pros. It will be beneficial for them to have a coach who understands the same issue.
Experience is great, but we’ve seen problems in the past in hockey and other sports where the stereotypical old, crusty coach cannot identify with the younger generation. You still have to instill work ethic and a sense of direction, but Bannister will be able to relate to players fresh out of junior hockey since he was just there.
If things work out, Bannister could see promotion within a few seasons. The Blues brought Craig Berube up from the AHL after a successful partnership between he and the parent club. St. Louis also hired David Payne from the AHL, though that was fraught with mixed results.
The bottom line is that the Blues are putting their stamp on their system. They have re-upped their ECHL affiliation with Tulsa and are now getting their system in place with San Antonio.
Next: Mike Van Ryn Joins Blues Coaching Staff
Hopefully this will speed up the process of developing players as 2017-18 was a mess with guys scattered all over and playing under different systems. The plan will be for Bannister to set up so that players can jump right into the Blues.
Time will tell if it is a good hire. Right now, it is a solid choice.