Drew Bannister signed a two-year contract Tuesday to remain coach of the St. Louis Blues.
The 50-year-old went 30-19-5 as interim coach after replacing Craig Berube, who was fired Dec. 14, 2023.
St. Louis finished 43-33-6 but missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second straight season.
“(Blues general manager) Doug (Armstrong) and I have been talking over the last week or so when he was over in Europe and this past weekend, [and] he had offered me the job,” Bannister said. “Obviously for me, an exciting moment. Something that I had been working towards and something that I wanted for myself, for my family moving forward, and certainly to be a part of the Blues organization.
“When I came in and took over on an interim basis, that was something for me, not only having success while I was there in an interim basis but also the process of going through that process and giving myself the opportunity to be interviewed and looked upon as the head coach of the St. Louis Blues.”
The Blues are Bannister's first head coaching job in the NHL. He was 93-58-19 for Springfield of the American Hockey League, guiding it to consecutive Calder Cup Playoff appearances, including the 2022 Calder Cup Final. He played 164 NHL regular-season games from 1995 to 2001 for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and New York Rangers.
"I think he dove right in," goalie Jordan Binnington said in Budapest while preparing to play for the Canada in the 2024 IIHF World Championships. "He put his best foot forward every day and I'm happy for him. He stuck with it and learned a lot. I could tell. I'm happy he got the opportunity."
A defenseman, Bannister was selected by the Lightning in the second round (No. 26) of the 1992 NHL Draft.
“When Drew got here, I hadn't really worked with him a lot in the American Hockey League,” Armstrong said. “And then getting to watch him, how he runs a practice, how he treats and commands respect from the players in general, how our team played a little bit differently, and then you're just looking to say, 'Is there anything better out there? Is there something different that we're missing?'
“We just came back to our group that Drew had done what we asked him to do. We see progression. We see someone that's earned the right to take the reigns and we move forward.”
Three teams are without a coach: the San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets. Jim Hiller is interim coach of the Los Angeles Kings.
NHL.com independent correspondents Lou Korac and Aaron Vickers contributed to this report
