Drew Bannister has done a serviceable job since taking over as interim head coach of the St Louis Blues. He took over a team that wasn't receiving Craig Berube's message and a question of effort from game to game was present. While the Blues play under Bannister has improved from the play under Berube, the inconsistency of the team's play still looms. Which begs the question, will Bannister stay beyond this season?
GM Doug Armstrong and the Blues have not made a comment on what their plans are at head coach, so this could be something that waits until the summer. However, looking at the overall body of work Bannister has done since taking over, there are a lot of positives to go over.
The Blues seem to be closer together under Drew Bannister.
For whatever reason, it seemed for all of 2022 and the first few months of this season the Blues played with a lack of effort from game to game under Berube. Watching this team during this period made it clear that something was wrong in the locker room. The players just looked like they were giving half effort out there at times.
Whether that was on Berube or on the players, something had to change. When Bannister took over, you could see that the players had much more energy and seemed to be closer with one another. It might've just been a product of a new coach, but at first the effort looked much better than it did under Berube, and then it went back to the way it was.
The ultimate decision on Bannister will be made by Doug Armstrong.
Bannister seems like a bandaid. He was able to partially fix some of the main issues that were happening under Berube, but some of those issues are still there. As much as Bannister has improved the team's overall play, there's a good chance he's not with the team next year.
Looking at the season as a whole, there has been tremendous growth with this team compared to last year. It'll be up to GM Doug Armstrong to decide if Bannister is the guy to progress the franchise along.