Blues GM Doug Armstrong Blames Himself For Having To Fire Craig Berube

ST. LOUIS: St. Louis normal supervisor Doug Armstrong stated he received uninterested in seeing the Blues being a punching bag, resulting in his resolution to fireside coach Craig Berube.

“Your mind starts to work when you’re everybody’s homecoming game,” Armstrong stated Wednesday. “It’s not a good feeling.”

Armstrong dismissed Berube late Tuesday night time, about two hours after the Blues misplaced to the Detroit Red Wings 6-4. The two males had a beer and the transfer was made.

“I feel personally responsible for the situation that we’re in,” stated Armstrong, who has been with the Blues since 2008 and the GM since 2010. “It’s not a great day but it’s a new day. Now we move forward.”

Armstrong stated he made the choice after consulting group proprietor Tom Stillman.

“The players didn’t come in and say ‘fire Craig Berube and we’ll be better.’ The way we play the game right now isn’t good enough,” Armstrong stated. “I think we’re a better team than our play indicates. We’ve changed the coach. If we could move, I guess, chairs on the Titantic, I guess we would but it’s harder to do.”

The loss to Detroit was the most recent in a string of disappointing defeats. St. Louis entered the third interval up 4-3 however ended up dropping their fourth in a row. The losses got here towards Vegas, Columbus, Chicago and Detroit, with the center two video games being on the highway.

The 57-year-old Berube guided the Blues to the Stanley Cup championship in 2019. He changed Mike Yeo on Nov. 20, 2018, because the interim coach and led an incredible turnaround. He led St. Louis to a 38-19-6 document in 2018-19.

“We’ve built a friendship over the years. He’s a true professional. We talked a little bit. We had a beer. We reminisced for a second and now my job is to move forward,” Armstrong stated. “Craig will now regroup. He’ll land on his feet.”

Drew Bannister would be the interim head coach. He had been the pinnacle coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League. He was touring Wednesday to St. Louis from Springfield and didn’t attend the group’s observe.

He will make his debut Thursday when the Blues host the Ottawa Senators.

“Now I don’t know if tomorrow will be different,” Armstrong stated. “I just know one of the things has been removed from the equation and that’s the head coach. When you make that change, you’re getting to the center of the hourglass and that’s myself and the players.”

Bannister shall be a candidate for the job, Armstrong stated.

“I will start the process of looking for a permanent replacement,” Armstrong stated. “There’s no timeline on that and there will be no updates on that as I go through it. We’ll announce it when we announce it.”

St. Louis is mired in sixth place within the Central Division, 9 factors behind division-leading Colorado. The Blues are in tenth place out of 16 groups within the Western Conference.

The Blues rank twenty sixth within the NHL in objectives per sport (2.82) and have the second-worst energy play (7 for 83) within the league at 8.4%.

Armstrong additionally introduced the Blues have employed Brad Richards as a marketing consultant. He will have a look at the group’s energy play and make options. Richards performed in Dallas when Armstrong was there. Richards retired in 2015.

Berube, who was in his sixth season with the Blues, had a document of 206-131-44. His win complete ranks third in group historical past. He registered 24 playoff victories in 51 postseason video games. Under Berube, St. Louis received 5 playoff sequence.

“There was no relief,” Armstrong stated about Berube’s response to being fired. “He’s a competitor. He said, ‘I get it.’ He’s been in the NHL a long time.”

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(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)