St. Louis Blues Need Cohesion Between NHL And AHL

By Todd Panula | Jul 27, 2018

LONDON, ON - SEPT 30: Head coach Drew Bannister of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds gives instructions during a timeout against the London Knights during an OHL game on Sept 30, 2016 at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario, Canada. The Greyhounds defeated the Knights 3-2 in an overtime shoot-out. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

The St. Louis Blues were almost like a man without a country last season, not having their own minor league affiliates. They need to hit the ground running and get a plan in place for 2018-19.

The St. Louis Blues are clearly happy to be done with last year’s mess of a minor league situation. They now have their own AHL and ECHL affiliates and can control who gets played what kind of time, etc.

However, just because you are in control does not mean what you are doing is always right. That’s why the Blues brought in Drew Bannister to lead the San Antonio Rampage. They want him to put his own stamp on things and challenge the team a little, if necessary.

The parent club should always have the final say, but whatever decisions they make, there needs to be cohesion. Reading the Post-Dispatch’s article on Bannister, it’s great to hear they have confidence in him. You should have confidence in your hire for coach and feel he can mold the young talents into NHL ready pieces.

However, you cannot just be all fluff and positivity. There is serious work to be done to get Mike Yeo and Bannister on the same page.

Yeo has apparently changed up his power play philosophy, something that had to be done after having the league’s worst man-advantage. Bannister might have a different philosophy as well. That’s fine for your own team in San Antonio, but the Blues cannot have a situation where they call up Jordan Kyrou in December and he does not have a clue what power play scheme he is running.

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The styles can be slightly different, of course, to fit your personnel. The x’s and o’s need to be very similar, however, to create a fluid unit where players can go back and forth.

Of course that’s the Blues’ plan and they think it will be implemented well between Yeo and Bannister.

"“I think that Drew’s a real good coach,” Yeo said. “And he’s gonna do a real good job for us down there, making sure that these guys have the right opportunity to develop, and teaching them the things that we need them to be taught.” – Post-Dispatch"

The main worry is how quickly Bannister gets things in place. As pointed out by Jim Thomas, he has experience putting together teams rather quickly. He will need to use that since he won’t know his full compliment of players until after the Blues make cuts in their own training camp.

That’s a short amount of time to get a player in, tell them the system, make sure they’re not too disappointed by not making the NHL and get a lineup put together. It’s a tough ask, but that’s what the AHL is there for.

That’s what Bannister and Yeo have to get on the same page about. They both seem like similar coaches. They want an up-tempo offense with a strong defensive style. There are many ways to tweak that sensibility though, so they have to be on the same page.

One coach cannot be preaching defensive responsibility from forwards while the other lets his guys wheel and deal and let the defenders do the rest. There has to be a cohesive plan from top to bottom.

The Blues did not have that last year and, while there is no definitive correlation, they had a mixed year with some young players playing well and some struggling. Their best year, top to bottom, was in 2015-16. Craig Berube was the Chicago Wolves coach, the team was under Blues control and both franchises benefited with good seasons.

The Blues need that this season. They have the talent in the minors to have a special team in the AHL. They just need to be playing whatever Yeo has for this version of Blues hockey, even if they are wearing a San Antonio sweater.

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I have faith that Bannister will be a good coach. His experience in juniors will help him with this young team he’s going to inherit. I just hope that the relationship between Yeo and himself is not all fluff and they get on the same page. That will benefit this franchise in large ways down the road.

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