The Blues fired head coach Mike Yeo after a 2-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night. This was the third time the St. Louis Blues have been shutout in four games. Blues general manager Doug Armstrong named Craig Berube the club’s interim head coach. Berube had been an assistant coach with the team since last season.
Blues fans have been asking for Joel Quenneville to be named the new head coach, which still may happen, but for now, they have Berube. However, that might not be such a bad thing. Let’s get to know the interim head coach of the St. Louis Blues, Craig Berube.
Berube’s Playing Career
Berube’s playing career lasted from 1986-87 to 2002-03. He played 1054 games in 17 seasons as a forward in the NHL. In those games, he had 61 goals and 98 assists for 159 points. While his number of points is not impressive, his number of penalty minutes are, even for the enforcer that he was. In 1054 games, he tallied 3149 penalty minutes. Berube played the Philadelphia Flyers, the Washington Capitals, the Calgary Flames, the Toronto Maple Leafs the New York Islanders.
Berube’s Coaching Career
Berube spent two seasons as an assistant coach of the Flyers AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms from 2004-05 to 2005-06.
He spent six games as head coach of the Phantoms in 2006-07. The Flyers called him up to be an assistant coach for the rest of the season.
He returned to the Philadelphia Phantoms as head coach in 2007-08. The Phantoms had a record of 46-27-7 in the regular season. They made it to the playoffs and they lost in the second round under Berube.
Berube went back up to the Flyers as an assistant coach from 2008-09 to the first three games of the 2013-14 season. During this time, the Flyers made it to the Stanley Cup Final once and lost. They also made it to the playoffs five out of the six seasons.
Berube’s only head coaching job in the NHL was with the Flyers from 2013-14 to 2014-15. Berube became head coach three games into the 2013-14 season after the Flyers had gone 0-3. His record in those two seasons was 75-58-28. In 2013-14, the Flyers made it to the first round of the playoffs but ultimately lost in a seven-game series. In 2014-15, the Flyers missed the playoffs, which led to Berube getting fired. Berube’s time in Philadelphia coincided with Blues forward Brayden Schenn‘s time in Philadelphia.
Brayden Schenn on Craig Berube: “I’ve had him before in Philly and players respect him a lot, guys love him around the locker room, guys are going to play hard for him. I expect no different here than it was in Philly.” #stlblues
— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) November 20, 2018
The Blues Organization
Berube was the head coach of the Blues former minor league team, the Chicago Wolves, in 2016-17. The Wolves went 44-19-8 and made it to the second round of the playoffs before losing.
Before the start of the 2017-18 season, Berube became an assistant coach of the Blues. In 101 games as an assistant coach of the Blues, the Blues were 51-41-9. Last season, the Blues did not make the playoffs and this season the Blues are 30th out of 31 NHL teams.
Berube clearly knows the game and has a lot of coaching experience, but the has one thing missing in both his playing and coaching career is a Stanley Cup. With the Blues struggling, Berube will be given the opportunity to turn the team around. If he can turn this team into a contender, then the Blues might just remove the “interim” tag from his job title.
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