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Craig Berube

Injury Notes: Sabres, Penguins, Ryan, Jarnkrok

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The Buffalo Sabres’ depth will be tested just two games into the season, with top-six wingers John-Jason Peterka (concussion) and Zach Benson (lower-body) both facing injury, per Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. No timeline was provided for either player. Benson was held out of the team’s Saturday morning game in favor of top prospect Jiri Kulich, while Peterka exited the game after just three shifts. Lysowski added that team captain Rasmus Dahlin also seems unhealthy, despite being the team’s clear-cut top defender through their first two games.

The menagerie of injuries is weighing heavily on the Sabres, who lost both games in the Prague series by a combined score of 7-2. Peterka recorded the primary assist on Buffalo’s first goal of the year – making a strong play behind the net to set up Owen Power in the slot. Those are the hard-nosed plays Peterka has become known for in his early career, a big part of how he managed 28 goals and 50 points last season. Despite being in his age-18 season, Benson wasn’t too far behind – netting 11 goals and 30 points of his own, though he did miss 11 games to injury last year. Both players are not only core pieces of the present Sabres lineup, but pillars of the team’s future. Their healthy and speedy recovery will be paramount as the team looks to find their bearings when they return to America.

Other injury updates from around the league:

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins are also bearing through a pair of injuries, with both Bryan Rust and Vasiliy Ponomarev listed as day-to-day per Tribune-Review Spots’ Seth Rorabaugh. No details or timeline were provided. Rust has missed the bulk of Pittsburgh’s preseasons with what were originally described as maintenance days, before this injury designation. He’ll have his eyes set on the team’s top line when he returns to full health, having posted a commendable 56 points – split evenly – in just 62 appearances last year. Ponomarev doesn’t have the same lineup security, though his 30 points in 43 AHL games last season could be enough to warrant a test in the bottom-six. Any bout with the Penguins would be notable for the 23-year-old Ponomarev, who made his NHL debut with Carolina last season – scoring two points in two games.
  • Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch listed forward Derek Ryan as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, shares Tony Barr of Oilers TV. Ryan has continued skating at the tail end of Edmonton’s practices, though he was held out of the team’s final preseason game on Friday. He’ll be in the mix for fourth-line minutes when he returns, likely set to return to the role that earned him 12 points in 70 games last season.
  • Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has confirmed Calle Jarnkrok’s lower-body injury is nagging, telling TSN’s Mark Masters that it’s the same injury that limited the forward at the start of training camp. Jarnkrok has only appeared in two preseason games, and continues to miss practices as a result of his injury. He’ll be a bottom-six multitool when he returns, though Jarnkrok first faces the test of overcoming a lingering issue.

Snapshots: Devils, Leonard, Berube

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At the beginning of the season, the Devils weren’t expected to be picking in the top ten but that’s where they find themselves after the lottery earlier this week.  Speaking after the lottery, GM Tom Fitzgerald indicated to reporters including team reporter Amanda Stein that it’s not a guarantee he’ll use the tenth pick next month, suggesting it’s an option to be moved if the right trade presents itself.  It’s not very often that top-ten picks are dealt but with New Jersey being a team in win-now mode, they could be inclined to try to use that selection for someone who is more established and can contribute right away.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • Capitals prospect Ryan Leonard opted not to sign with Washington for their playoff run, instead choosing to stay at Boston College instead. However, with San Jose getting the first-overall pick (which is expected to be used on Macklin Celebrini), it’s possible that Celebrini signing will also result in San Jose getting Will Smith to turn pro and become their one-two punch down the middle.  If that happens, Colby Cohen suggested on a recent Daily Faceoff appearance (video link) that Washington could then try to re-engage on getting Leonard, a current teammate of Smith, to sign for 2024-25.  Leonard had a dominant campaign, putting up 31 goals and 29 assists in 41 games in his freshman year.
  • While the Kings haven’t decided on if they’ll remove the interim tag from Jim Hiller who took over as head coach midseason, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reports in his latest Toronto Star column that Los Angeles is kicking the tires on Craig Berube. Berube has also been speculatively linked to the openings in New Jersey and Toronto and appears to be well-positioned to return behind an NHL bench in the coming weeks.  The 55-year-old has been an NHL bench boss for parts of eight seasons with his teams playing to a .584 points percentage.

Coaching Notes: Devils, Blues, Kings

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The New Jersey Devils plan to solidify a new head coach within the next 7-to-10 days, per The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun (Twitter link). New Jersey just lost interim head coach Travis Green to a four-year contract with the Ottawa Senators, leaving their commanding spot vacant for the first time since firing Lindy Ruff in March. Green led the Devils to a 38-39-5 record, in his two months behind the helm, performing well enough to earn his first full-time head coaching role since leaving the Vancouver Canucks in the 2021-22 season. Ruff has also found a new home, returning to the Buffalo Sabres, where he’s already spent 10 years as a player and 16 years as a coach.

The coaching carousel has circled around the Devils and it’s now their chance to name a new boss. Jay Woodcroft and Craig Berube are seemingly leading the way, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on The Jeff Marek Show. Friedman added that many around the league view New Jersey as the job with the highest ceiling. That’s certainly no surprise, as their next head coach will assume a roster with stars Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, and Dougie Hamilton. And New Jersey is only getting better, with rookie defenders Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec earning full-time roles last season and the Devils recently signing top defense prospect Seamus Casey. New Jersey had a shockingly poor season, missing the playoffs by 10 points after bearing with injuries, a lack of chemistry, and poor goaltending all year. There is star power throughout their lineup, but with very little cap space this summer the Devils will need to hope that a new head coach will be enough to bring out their full potential.

Other notes from the coaching circuit:

  • The St. Louis Blues will be retaining the entire staff behind head coach Drew Bannister, shares The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford (Twitter link). The Blues removed Bannister’s interim title earlier today, with Rutherford adding that the hiring process also featured interviews with the team’s advisors Peter Chiarelli, Alexander Steen, and Scott Mellanby. Bannister made it through each stage, and will now return to a team that he led to a 30-19-5 record last season. Bannister brought the best out of some of St. Louis’ youngest players, and manned a red-hot goaltending duo of Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer. While Bannister’s staff won’t lose any faces, the Blues haven’t ruled out the possibility of adding more coaching supports, as they look to get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
  • The Los Angeles Kings are taking their time with their own coaching search, and plan to interview interim head coach Jim Hiller next week, shares LeBrun (Twitter link). LeBrun adds that the Kings liked what they saw out of Hiller but aren’t committed to him just yet. Hiller led the Kings to a 21-12-1 record after taking over for Todd McLellan on February 10th. It was the first head coaching opportunity of Hiller’s career, after 10 years of serving as an assistant coach across the NHL. He previously spent eight years as a head coach in the WHL, making the playoffs seven times.

Senators Linked To Craig Berube, Dean Evason

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The Senators are hunting for a new head coach this summer after firing D.J. Smith in December after an 11-15-0 start. Former Sens coach Jacques Martin stepped in as interim the rest of the way, and longtime captain Daniel Alfredsson joined his staff as an assistant, but it was clear neither name was expected to be the long-term solution as Ottawa tries yet again to exit their years-long rebuild.

As the Sens enter a long summer, it appears they’d like to get their coaching vacancy sorted out sooner rather than later. Multiple reports suggest they’ve started the interview process, with Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland reporting the team has “legit interest” in former Blues bench boss Craig Berube for the role. The team has also been granted permission to talk to and subsequently interviewed ex-Wild coach Dean Evason for the role, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo. Berube and Evason were sacked by their respective teams during the 2023-24 campaign.

Ottawa would be Berube’s third try leading an NHL bench. His first stint was brief, coming with the Flyers for nearly two full seasons over the 2013-14 and 2014-15 campaigns. It came after nearly a decade of working in the organization as an assistant and AHL head coach. Let go after failing to make the postseason in 2015, Berube returned to coaching after a season off in the Blues organization, manning their AHL affiliate for a year before being upgraded to associate coach on the NHL bench. The rest was history, taking over for Mike Yeo in the 2018-19 season and guiding St. Louis to its first Stanley Cup on the back of breakout goalie Jordan Binnington.

A below .500 season in 2022-23 and a below .500 start this year cost Berube his job in December, a month after the same fate befell Evason in Minnesota. Plagued by injuries and poor goaltending to start the season, Evason’s Wild sputtered to a 5-10-4 start despite being viewed as a playoff contender in the Central Division for the fifth straight season. Even after the club named John Hynes as his permanent replacement, though, they couldn’t rebound quite enough to squeak into a playoff spot. Minnesota was Evason’s first job as an NHL head coach, compiling a strong 147-77-27 record over parts of five seasons.

Like the Sabres bringing back familiar face Lindy Ruff earlier this week to replace Don Granato behind the bench, Ottawa’s front office is going for a more aggressive, veteran coach to instill accountability across the board. Coaching wasn’t their primary issue by any stretch this season, though. Despite finishing seventh in the Atlantic, the Sens had the possession numbers of a much better team. At 5-on-5, they controlled 51.0% of shot attempts, 50.2% of all scoring chances and 51.4% of high-danger chances. Unfortunately, their 9.6 shooting percentage was a tad below the league average. Big free-agent pickup Joonas Korpisalo crashed and burned between the pipes, conceding nearly 21 goals above average with his .890 SV% in 55 appearances. It was the exact same story as last season when they put up almost identical possession, shooting, and SV% numbers across the board.

Whoever their next hire is will be their third full-time head coach since 2016, a surprisingly low turnover rate for a club that’s fallen short of expectations multiple times in the past few years.

St. Louis Blues Fire Craig Berube

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The St. Louis Blues have made a surprising coaching change. The team has announced that head coach Craig Berube has been relieved of his duties. In addition, Drew Bannister, the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, has been named the interim bench boss in St. Louis.

A veteran of over 1,000 games as a player, Berube is best known for the magical run he led the Blues on after taking over in a mid-season coaching change in 2018-19. With the Blues struggling to find any sort of success under Mike Yeo, general manager Doug Armstrong made a coaching change and placed control over the team in Berube’s hands.

That decision paid almost immediate dividends. The Blues went on a scorching-hot run to close out the regular season and then won their franchise’s first Stanley Cup in dramatic fashion: a dominant game-seven road victory against a strong Boston Bruins team.

Berube’s leadership led the Blues to the Stanley Cup championship that had eluded them for so long. For that, he’ll always be remembered as a legend in St. Louis.

That being said, since that Stanley Cup run the Blues have been on an undeniable decline. They lost in the first round in consecutive years following the championship and then rebounded in 2021-22, winning one playoff series. But a 37-38-7 record last season exposed some serious cracks in the Blues’ foundation, and a middling 13-14-1 start to this campaign was the final nail in the coffin for Berube.

It’s fair to question whether the decline of the Blues is ultimately down to Berube’s coaching, or personnel decisions made by the front office. On one hand, the Blues have a team with some genuinely talented players, they spend to the salary cap, and should probably be performing a little bit better than they are right now just assessing things on paper.

But on the other hand, there have been some definite missteps from the front office. First and foremost, the team has seemingly not recovered from captain Alex Pietrangelo’s decision to leave and sign with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Additionally, players such as Torey Krug, Nick Leddy, Marco Scandella, Kasperi Kapanen, Jakub Vrána are all not providing surplus value for their cap hits, which has clogged up the team’s financial flexibility to make changes. The large number of players with some form of no-trade protection in their contracts has also cost the team the ability to make meaningful changes to its roster.

That’s not to say all the moves since the Stanley Cup win have not paid off, the Pavel Buchnevich trade in particular was absolutely stellar, but overall there have been quite a few missteps in terms of player recruitment and evaluation since the team’s championship win.

So with a squad clearly in need of a change, but without the means to make any significant player moves, the Blues found themselves in a similar predicament to the Edmonton Oilers from earlier this season. Like in Edmonton, it’s unclear how much blame for their current struggles truly lies in the hands of the head coach. But also like in Edmonton, the Blues didn’t have many levers to pull – outside of a coaching change – to try to catalyze team-wide improvement.

The Oilers have responded extremely positively to their coaching change, and have now won eight straight games. The Blues are likely hoping this move produces similar results, and it’s that desperate need for improvement that has led to St. Louis dispatching a figure who accomplished so much for their franchise. They’ve even gone a similar route in terms of replacement to the Oilers. Edmonton hired an AHL head coach from outside of its organization to replace the coach they fired, while the Blues have also opted for an AHL coach, only this one comes from their own AHL affiliate.

Bannister, 49, began his coaching career in the United Kingdom, serving as a player-coach for the Hull Stingrays and Braehead Clan. He got his first chance as a full-time head coach with the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack, reaching the playoffs in each of his three seasons there. He was then hired to his old OHL stomping grounds to be the head coach of the Soo Greyhounds, the junior team he won two OHL titles and a Memorial Cup with as a player. He had a strong tenure with the Greyhounds, leading them to the OHL Finals in 2017-18.

After losing in the OHL Final, Bannister became the head coach of the San Antonio Rampage in the AHL, beginning his AHL coaching career. He did not have a huge amount of success in San Antonio, though things would change after the Blues’ AHL affiliation shifted to Springfield. In his first season in Massachusetts, Bannister coached the Thunderbirds to the Calder Cup Final.

A few key player departures dropped the team to more of a middle-of-the-pack squad last season, but this year Bannister’s Thunderbirds are firmly in the playoff picture with a 12-8-2 record. Bannister has delivered numerous NHL players to St. Louis, such as Jordan Kyrou, Niko Mikkola, Ville Husso, and Jake Walman, to name a few. Now, he’ll be tasked with delivering something different to the Blues: NHL victories.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

St. Louis Blues Activate Brandon Saad

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Reinforcements have arrived for the struggling St.Louis Blues as the team announced forwards Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich will return to the lineup for Thursday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks. After trading away long-time forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly, the Blues are struggling to play motivated hockey.

At the very least, Saad and Buchnevich should inject some hard work and leadership into this team. Head coach Craig Berube said just as much when speaking to reporters today:

Having Buchy and Saad back, we’re a much better team for sure. The veterans have to lead by example—from a work standpoint, compete standpoint, playing the right way.

The Blues are mired in a three-game losing streak that has dropped them to sixth place in the Central Division, five points behind the Nashville Predators and only six ahead of the Arizona Coyotes. While it’s been clear for weeks that this wouldn’t be the Blues’ year, seeing them plummet down the standings is not something anyone expected.

Getting Buchnevich back makes them a much more dangerous team, as the 27-year-old winger’s 43 points still lead the club on a per-game basis. In the second season of a four-year, $23.2MM contract signed in 2021, Buchnevich is one of the pieces that will cause general manager Doug Armstrong to be more aggressive than some other sellers this summer, adding more talent to the group instead of going through a rebuilding process.

Saad is also still an effective player, even if his offensive totals have never quite reached the potential many saw in him as a youngster in Chicago. The veteran forward has 15 goals and 22 points this season through 46 games.

Snapshots: Blues, Schenn, Bally Sports

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The St. Louis Blues had a resounding win last night over the Florida Panthers, but it came at a cost. Both forward Brandon Saad and defenseman Torey Krug left the game with injuries, and they could be without both tomorrow against the New Jersey Devils, says head coach Craig Berube.

Berube confirmed Saad, who’s dealing with an upper-body injury, will miss the game. Krug is questionable with a lower-body injury. Both players have already missed chunks of the season with injuries, contributing to the Blues’ mediocre record. Saad’s injury opens the door for veteran Josh Leivo, who has four goals and 13 points in 38 games, to step into a top-six role for the time being. Neither Saad nor Krug have a timeline for their injuries, although Krug’s is obviously a short-term absence.

  • Despite other hot-commodity defensemen being scratched for asset protection, Vancouver Canucks defender Luke Schenn doesn’t expect the same treatment. Schenn told reporters that he “expects to be playing every night” ahead of the March 3 trade deadline, despite multiple teams having reported interest in the stay-at-home defenseman. The 33-year-old has 18 points and a +5 rating in 53 games this season.
  • The NHL Board of Governors had an emergency meeting today to discuss the financial struggles of Bally Sports Network’s parent group, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo. Diamond Sports, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, operates the Bally Sports umbrella of regional sports networks that broadcasts the home games of many U.S.-based teams. Today, they skipped a debt payment of $140MM as the organization nears bankruptcy. A potential sudden, unexpected lack of TV revenue is certainly a bit of financial concern for the league.

St. Louis Blues Place Robert Bortuzzo On Injured Reserve

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The St. Louis Blues placed defenseman Robert Bortuzzo on injured reserve after sustaining a lower-body injury on Saturday, a team release stated Monday. In his place, the team has recalled defenseman Dmitri Samorukov from the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.

Bortuzzo, 33, played just five shifts against the Montreal Canadiens on January 7 before leaving the game with the injury. He was previously listed as day-to-day yesterday by head coach Craig Berube.

St. Louis’ injury woes on defense could become too much to handle. Bortuzzo makes five Blues defensemen out of the lineup with injuries, with three already on injured reserve (Torey Krug, Marco Scandella, Scott Perunovich). Nick Leddy is also sidelined with no set timetable yet for a return.

Bortuzzo had just one point this season, a goal against the Minnesota Wild on December 31. A member of the Blues organization since he was traded for in 2015, his usage has dipped to below 13 minutes per game for the first time since he played just six games in 2011-12.

Samorukov, like Bortuzzo, is defensively inclined. A 2017 third-round pick, the Blues acquired Samorukov in a one-for-one swap with the Edmonton Oilers for forward Klim Kostin during the preseason. Samorukov has two goals, six assists, eight points, and a -3 rating in 34 games with Springfield in 2022-23.

It hasn’t been the best start for him with his new team, and he’s been passed over on call-up opportunities by veterans like Calle Rosen and Steven Santini. He’s getting a chance now, though, and he’ll need to capitalize if he gets into a game to reaffirm his role within the organization.

Injury Notes: Canadiens, Blues, Brodin

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The Montreal Canadiens will be without defenseman David Savard and forward Sean Monahan when they take on the Seattle Kraken tonight. Per the team, Savard is dealing with an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. At the same time, Monahan has a lower-body injury and will be reevaluated when the team returns to Montreal after their road trip concludes tonight.

Savard is second among Canadiens defensemen this season in points (eight) and average time on ice (22:17). While his defensive play hasn’t been what it was during the end of his time in Columbus, he’s a vital minute-muncher on a youthful Montreal defense. His usage is the highest it’s been in more than five years, so it’ll be testing for the Habs rookies to see if they can handle some increased minutes in his absence. Monahan is also in the middle of a well-documented resurgence, sitting in fourth place on the Habs with 17 points in 25 games this year. He’s also been great in the faceoff circle, winning over 55% of his draws and leading the team in total faceoff wins (177).

  • While the St. Louis Blues are on their way to a convincing road win on Long Island, they did it without a pair of key players in winger Pavel Buchnevich and defenseman Torey Krug. Buchenvich was out with a lower-body injury, while Krug missed the game with an upper-body injury. Head coach Craig Berube noted pre-game that both players need further evaluations before “knowing whether the injuries would be more short-term or long-term.”
  • Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason said today that although defenseman Jonas Brodin won’t make his return to the lineup tomorrow, the Swede looked “great” today and is close to returning. Brodin, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, has missed a combined five games this year with this injury and an earlier illness. While known for his defensive prowess, he’s still in the middle of a down year offensively, with just four assists in 19 games.

 

St. Louis Blues Extend Craig Berube

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One St. Louis becomes a coach, another St. Louis extends one. The St. Louis Blues have signed Craig Berube to a three-year extension, taking him through the 2024-25 season. The Blues coach released a short statement on why he chose to stay:

I’ve enjoyed working with (General Manager) Doug Armstrong and (Chairman) Tom Stillman, working with the coaching staff and training staff and all the players we have here. Why would I want to go anywhere else? I love it here.

Berube, a veteran of more than 1,000 games as a player in the NHL, took over the Blues as head coach during the 2018-19 season and led them all the way to a Stanley Cup championship. When he replaced Mike Yeo, the team was 7-9-3 and floundering in the Central Division. They would go 38-19-6 after making the switch, climbing all the way from last place in the NHL to second in the Central, then dispatching the Winnipeg Jets, Dallas Stars, San Jose Sharks, and Boston Bruins en route to the organization’s first Stanley Cup.

Signed to an extension after that year ended, Berube was in the final season of his deal and would have become a free agent without another contract in place. He now has some security and can continue what has been an outstanding job behind the Blues’ bench. In 234 games as head coach of the Blues, he has a 133-71-30 record in the regular season.

Interestingly enough though, Berube’s recent postseason record hasn’t been very good. The Blues were washed out of the first round in six games in 2020 by the Vancouver Canucks, and then swept by the Colorado Avalanche last summer. This year, should they make it again, will be a big test for the group that was so physically dominant in the 2019 playoffs, punishing any opponent that stood in their way. St. Louis currently sits fourth in the Central but securely in the first wild card position.

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