Craig Berube expected to join St. Louis Blues as assistant
Craig Berube is expected to return to the NHL as the Blues’ top assistant for the 2017-18 season.
The St. Louis Blues’ player development process will change substantially during the 2017-18 season, as they’ve lost their primary AHL affiliation with the Chicago Wolves. They’ll have to rely on the Wolves and other AHL clubs to provide their prospects with any extra roster spots they may have, and obviously they’ll no longer have any control over the Wolves’ coaching staff or the system that the team plays.
The Wolves hired Rocky Thompson as their new head coach on Wednesday, putting the Blues’ handpicked coach, Craig Berube, out of a job. Berube spent his first season as the Wolves’ head coach in 2016-17 and took the team to the second round of the AHL playoffs. He received praise for his work developing forwards such as Ivan Barbashev, Magnus Paajarvi, Wade Megan, and Kenny Agostino and earned trust as a valuable member of the Blues organization, so it’ll certainly be a net negative for the Blues to have their prospects working under a different coach next season.
Even though Berube won’t be in Chicago, though, he’s expected to officially join the Blues organization in 2017-18 as an assistant on Mike Yeo’s staff. While Berube has interviewed for the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers’ head coaching jobs this offseason, both TSN’s Darren Dreger and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Jeremy Rutherford have reported that Berube is likely to end up in St. Louis:
I wouldn't be surprised to see Craig Berube on the Blues bench this season as an associate coach. Interviewed in Buffalo and Florida.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) June 7, 2017
Berube expected to land in St. Louis, as @stltoday has reported and @DarrenDreger indicated today. #stlblues https://t.co/50ibMpfQ4k
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) June 7, 2017
The 51-year-old Berube was the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers from 2013-15, accumulating a 75-58-28 record while taking the team to the first round of the playoffs during the 2013-14 season. Despite leading the Flyers to point percentages above .500 in both of his seasons in Philadelphia, Berube was pushed out after the 2014-15 season as new GM Ron Hextall sought to bring in his own guy.
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If hired, Berube will join a revamped staff that already includes former Blues Darryl Sydor and Steve Ott. Video coach Sean Ferrell will return, but the Blues are still seeking a new goalie coach.