The St. Louis Blues are an American professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They play in the Central Division of the Western Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL).[1] The team joined the NHL in 1967 as an expansion team with five other teams. The Blues first played their home games at the St. Louis Arena until 1994; they have played their home games at the Enterprise Center, first named the Kiel Center, since then.[2] The majority of the Blues franchise are owned by SLB Acquisition LLC, headed by Tom Stillman; Doug Armstrong is their general manager.[3] [4]
There have been 27 head coaches for the Blues. The franchise's first head coach was Lynn Patrick, who coached for 16 games in his first term. Joel Quenneville is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (593), the most regular-season game wins (307), the most regular-season points (709), the most playoff games coached (68), and the most playoff-game wins (34). Barclay Plager and Bob Plager are the only pair of brothers[5] to have coached the Blues; Barclay coached for four seasons, and Bob coached for eleven games. Red Berenson, Brian Sutter, Quenneville and Ken Hitchcock are the only head coaches to have been awarded the Jack Adams Award with the Blues. Scotty Bowman, Al Arbour, and Emile Francis are the only Blues head coaches to have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder.[6] Six coaches have spent their entire NHL head coaching careers with the Blues.
Drew Bannister currently serves as head coach of the Blues; after being named the interim head coach with the firing of Craig Berube on December 12, 2023,[7] Bannister was promoted to permanent head coach on May 7, 2024.[8]
| Number of coaches | |
| GC | Games coached |
| W | Wins = 2 points |
| L | Losses = 0 points |
| T | Ties = 1 point |
| OT | Overtime/shootout losses = 1 point |
| PTS | Points |
| Win% | Winning percentage |
| Spent entire NHL coaching career with the Blues | |
| † | Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder |
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2023–24 regular season.
| Name | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Achievements | Reference | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GC | W | L | T/OT | PTS | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | ||||||
| 1 | Lynn Patrick | 1967 | 16 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 10 | .313 | — | — | — | — | [9] | ||
| 2 | Scotty Bowman† | 1967–1970 | 210 | 97 | 79 | 40 | 234 | .557 | 46 | 24 | 22 | .522 | [10] | ||
| 3 | Al Arbour† | 1970–1971 | 50 | 21 | 15 | 14 | 56 | .560 | — | — | — | — | [11] | ||
| — | Scotty Bowman† | 1971 | 28 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 31 | .553 | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 | |||
| 4 | Sid Abel | 1971 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 7 | .350 | — | — | — | — | [12] | ||
| 5 | Bill McCreary, Sr. | 1971 | 24 | 6 | 14 | 4 | 16 | .333 | — | — | — | — | [13] | ||
| — | Al Arbour† | 1971–1972 | 57 | 21 | 25 | 11 | 53 | .447 | 11 | 4 | 7 | .364 | |||
| 6 | Jean-Guy Talbot | 1972–1974 | 120 | 52 | 53 | 15 | 119 | .496 | 5 | 1 | 4 | .200 | [14] | ||
| 7 | Lou Angotti | 1974 | 32 | 6 | 20 | 6 | 18 | .281 | — | — | — | — | [15] | ||
| — | Lynn Patrick | 1974 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .750 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 8 | Garry Young | 1974–1975 | 98 | 41 | 41 | 16 | 98 | .500 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | [16] | ||
| — | Lynn Patrick | 1975–1976 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6 | .375 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 9 | Leo Boivin | 1976 | 43 | 17 | 17 | 9 | 43 | .500 | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | [17] | ||
| 10 | Emile Francis† | 1976–1977 | 80 | 32 | 39 | 9 | 73 | .456 | 4 | 0 | 4 | .000 | [18] | ||
| — | Leo Boivin* | 1977–1978 | 80 | 20 | 47 | 13 | 53 | .331 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 11 | Barclay Plager | 1978–1979 | 104 | 25 | 64 | 15 | 65 | .310 | — | — | — | — | [19] | ||
| 12 | Red Berenson | 1979–1982 | 204 | 100 | 72 | 32 | 232 | .569 | 14 | 5 | 9 | .357 | 1980–81 Jack Adams Award winner[20] | [21] | |
| — | Emile Francis† | 1982–1982 | 44 | 14 | 25 | 5 | 33 | .375 | 10 | 5 | 5 | .500 | |||
| — | Barclay Plager* | 1982–1983 | 48 | 15 | 21 | 12 | 42 | .438 | 4 | 1 | 3 | .250 | |||
| 13 | Jacques Demers | 1983–1986 | 240 | 106 | 106 | 28 | 240 | .500 | 33 | 16 | 17 | .485 | [22] | ||
| 14 | Jacques Martin | 1986–1988 | 160 | 66 | 71 | 23 | 155 | .484 | 16 | 7 | 9 | .438 | [23] | ||
| 15 | Brian Sutter | 1988–1992 | 320 | 153 | 124 | 43 | 349 | .545 | 41 | 20 | 21 | .488 | 1990–91 Jack Adams Award winner | [24] | |
| 16 | Bob Plager | 1992 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 9 | .409 | — | — | — | — | [25] | ||
| 17 | Bob Berry | 1992–1994 | 157 | 73 | 63 | 21 | 167 | .532 | 15 | 7 | 8 | .467 | [26] | ||
| 18 | Mike Keenan | 1994–1996 | 163 | 75 | 66 | 22 | 172 | .528 | 20 | 10 | 10 | .500 | [27] | ||
| 19 | Jim Roberts | 1996–1997 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | .500 | — | — | — | — | [28] | ||
| 20 | Joel Quenneville | 1997–2004 | 593 | 307 | 191 | 95 | 709 | .598 | 68 | 34 | 34 | .500 | 1999–2000 Jack Adams Award winner | [29] | |
| 21 | Mike Kitchen | 2004–2006 | 131 | 38 | 70 | 23 | 99 | .378 | — | — | — | — | [30] | ||
| 22 | Andy Murray | 2006–2010 | 258 | 118 | 102 | 38 | 274 | .531 | 4 | 0 | 4 | .000 | [31] | ||
| 23 | Davis Payne | 2010–2011 | 137 | 67 | 55 | 15 | 149 | .544 | — | — | — | — | [32] | ||
| 24 | Ken Hitchcock | 2011–2017 | 413 | 248 | 124 | 41 | 537 | .650 | 45 | 20 | 25 | .444 | 2011–12 Jack Adams Award winner | [33] | |
| 25 | Mike Yeo | 2017–2018 | 133 | 73 | 49 | 11 | 157 | — | — | — | — | [34] | |||
| 26 | Craig Berube | 2018–2023 | 382 | 206 | 132 | 44 | 239 | 51 | 24 | 27 | 2019 Stanley Cup championship | [35] | |||
| 27 | Drew Bannister | 2023–present | 54 | 30 | 19 | 5 | 65 | — | — | — | — | [36] | |||