Drew Bannister will take over behind the bench on Thursday night for the St. Louis Blues, making his NHL coaching debut against the Ottawa Senators (7 p.m., Bally Sports, 101 ESPN).
With his experience with the AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds and San Antonio Rampage, Bannister has coached 11 players on the roster - Nikita Alexandrov, Sammy Blais, Jordan Binnington, Jordan Kyrou, Joel Hofer, Mackenzie MacEachern, Hugh McGing, Jake Neighbours, Scott Perunovich, Alexey Toropchenko and Tyler Tucker.
"If you watched practice today, it was pretty easy for me to get around and talk to players," Bannister said of his familiarity with the team. "It's going to be an easier transition for them, knowing me, knowing what to expect and how I do things on a day-to-day basis. If you watched our team in Springfield, we were a highly-competitive team and resilient. That's something we're going to work on with this group here."
For Thursday's game, Bannister has made changes to all of the team's forward lines from Tuesday's loss against Detroit. Notably, Pavel Buchnevich is moving back to the wing and on the first line with Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. Brayden Schenn slides up to center the second line with Brandon Saad and Kasperi Kapanen, and Jake Neighbours shifts back to the third line with Kevin Hayes and Alexey Toropchenko. Hugh McGing and Mackenzie MacEachern, who have each been recalled from Springfield in the last week, will make the fourth line with Oskar Sundqvist in the middle.
Defensively, pairings haven't changed, although Tyler Tucker is expected to return to the lineup in place of Scott Perunovich.
Jordan Binnington is expected to start in goal.
