Bannister in consideration to remain Blues head coach: Net Front Presence
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Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporter Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss Drew Bannister’s candidacy to remain coach, the likelihood of a Pavel Buchnevich contract extension and other topics.
The Blues will still interview other candidates for the position, and Armstrong said the team would hire someone before the draft on June 28, even before the start of June.
When locker cleanout day arrived on Thursday morning, Blues players weren’t sure if they’d played their final game under interim coach Drew Bannister.
Following the Blues’ shootout loss to the Stars, the franchise, its players and coaches and management and fans now face the six-month return of hockey for the second straight year.
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It looks as if voters will decide fate of sports wagering in Missouri: Caesar's Better Bettor
Years of political bickering have kept sports betting outlawed in Missouri while all but one of its eight bordering states have approved the activity, but it now seems likely that voters will decide its legality in November.
“Winning for Missouri Education,†a group that has received funding from sportsbook behemoths DraftKings and FanDuel, announced this week that more than 300,000 signatures have been collected in its initiative-petition campaign to put the issue before Missouri voters as a constitutional amendment. To put the measure on the ballot, approximately 180,000 valid signatures must be submitted to the Missouri Secretary of State by May 5.
Jack Cardetti, spokesman for the group, said signatures still are being collected and the goal is to have about 325,000 by the deadline.
“The tremendous support we’ve seen throughout the state is a testament to Missourians’ readiness to bring sports betting (tax) revenue home and support our local schools, students and teachers in the process,†he said in a statement. “As the campaign approaches our goal of putting this on the November ballot, Missouri is a step closer to allowing Missouri adults to bet on sports, while generating tens of millions in annual funding for our classrooms.â€
Since the U.S. Supreme Court nearly six years ago struck down a federal ban on sports betting in most locations, allowing states to determine if they want it, 38 have approved it and Oklahoma is the only Missouri neighbor where it remains illegal.
The drive to legalize sports betting in Missouri has been supported by its major pro sports teams, which would be eligible for a license to book bets if they play in a venue with at least 11,500 seats. If approved, they could take wagers either on site or online. Missouri’s 13 casinos also could offer such betting, as well as two additional online operators not physically in the state.
But not everyone agrees. Denny Hoskins, a Republican state senator from Warrensburg who has blocked the advancement of sports-betting bills in the past, was asked at a news conference about his feelings regarding the issue moving closer to a statewide vote.
“I’m not against putting that question on the ballot, but I’ve consistently said that the ballot language that they are using I believe does not best serve the people of Missouri,†he said, adding that he thinks the tax rate of 10% is too low and “there’s not enough money in there for problem compulsive gambling, which is going to be caused by the legalization of sports betting here in the state. This is definitely a golden ticket for all of the casinos and professional sports teams.â€
He added that casinos would make “another $25 million in net profit going to their bottom line. ... I want to make sure that there is enough money in there to help any problems they cause with ... compulsive gambling.â€
The Missouri House of Representatives has sent sports gambling bills to the Senate in multiple recent sessions to no avail, and it seems unlikely that anything will pass in this year’s term that ends May 17. The bills have been tied to the controversial issue of attempting to legalize gambling machines in gas stations and other public places outside of casinos that has been pushed by Hoskins. If the initiative petition drive is successful, the ballot question only would be about legalizing sports betting. It would not address the unregulated machines that have infiltrated the state, which the Missouri Gaming Commission previously said were illegal.
Hoskins continues to support uniting the issues.
“I think that is the best plan if we combine those two together,†he said. “... I think a legislative plan would be better, but we’ve gone down that road and unfortunately the casinos kill any sort of compromise we try to come up with.â€
Hoskins said there is an estimate that under the proposed sports betting amendment “Missouri will actually receive zero dollars going toward education, and already ... none of those additional funds can go to our veterans homes and veterans cemeteries — unlike video lottery terminals, which has a significant amount of fees that can send over $30 million to our veterans homes and cemeteries.â€
“Winning for Missouri Education†counters by saying that legalized sports betting would “generate tens of millions of dollars for Missouri public education.â€
Maryland, a state very similar in population size to Missouri, has legalized sports betting and its operators booked $536.7 million in wagers on athletics in March. After payouts to winners and other expenses, the sportsbooks there turned a profit of $32.4 million. With a tax rate of 15% on that final figure, the state took in $4.85 million in sports-betting revenue for the month.
Blues, GM Doug Armstrong count Drew Bannister among finalists for head coaching position
Doug Armstrong has a small list of names. Drew Bannister is one of them.
On Thursday, as the Blues conducted their season-ending media availability, Armstrong provided clarity on the club’s head coaching position moving forward: ºüÀêÊÓƵ has narrowed its list of coaching candidates, and Bannister made the cut as a finalist.
The Blues will still interview other candidates for the position, and Armstrong said the team would hire someone well before the draft on June 28-29, even before the start of June. Armstrong cautioned that the decision would not be coming immediately as “some of the names that I want to talk to aren’t available. Their teams are playing. Some of the names I want to talk to I’m going to give a little bit of time to.â€
Bannister took over as the interim coach in mid-December when the Blues fired Craig Berube. He went 30-19-5, a record that would be good for a 99-point pace across an entire 82-game season. Bannister, 50, just finished his sixth season within the Blues organization, and the previous 5½ came in the AHL.
Other than Bannister’s inclusion on the list of candidates, Armstrong offered little detail about the specifics of the search.
How many finalists are there?
“When you look at some of the people in this situation, they’re just starting the process and might have 15 names and might want to talk to eight or nine,†Armstrong said. “I’ve whittled that down to a very, very small number.â€
Is Joel Quenneville someone that the Blues would ask the league about his status? Quenneville is currently not allowed to coach in the NHL following his role in the sexual assault of Kyle Beach within the Blackhawks organization.
“I’m not going to get into individual names on what we’re going to do on anyone quite honestly,†Armstrong said.
Is previous head coaching experience in the NHL a prerequisite for the next hire?
“No,†Armstrong said succinctly.
In laying out the criteria for the next coach, Armstrong painted the picture of a coach who could help usher in the next era of Blues hockey, including guiding new, young talent and handling veterans, too.
“Wants to have the respect of the veteran players, but the ability for the younger players to express themselves and grab a bigger role,†Armstrong said. “That’s a difficult task. You can go to a certain coach and you know what their mindset is, it’s ‘I have the team that I think can win the Stanley Cup, and here’s the guy that can get us over the next 3% or 4%.’ I believe in our team, but we’re not at that level quite yet. That removes a coach that would fill that criteria.
“This coach, we want to come in that has an understanding of pushing and prodding and expectations of a fan base that should have expectations but also knowing that we are in the process of doing something sustainable and allowing learning and growth to happen.â€
Whoever the next coach is will be trying to avoid a third straight season without a playoff appearance, which has only happened once in franchise history, from 2005 to 08. They will also be the fourth head coach that Armstrong has hired with ºüÀêÊÓƵ on a permanent basis, joining Ken Hitchcock, Mike Yeo and Berube.
As for Bannister, he understood that this scenario was a possibility.
“When I first came in, there was no promises made,†Bannister said. “There were no expectations other than getting this team to where we all believed it could be and starting that process with the players and working on the habits and details in our game that we all knew we had to get better at to start to have success.â€
When Bannister was promoted, Armstrong said he had an extensive list of candidates. But as the Blues hovered around playoff contention (in part thanks to strong goaltending and a timely power play), more of those names were removed.
“As I watched him perform and I watched our team perform, I started to cross names off that list,†Armstrong said. “Now, Drew is one of a very small number of people I want to talk to about moving forward. I thought he did a very good job.
“I thought he was able to put a balance of pushing and prodding to get the best team on the ice every night, with also throwing a little bit of hope out there and a blind eye to putting young players in situations they haven’t been in, and living with the results. I think that’s how you grow.â€
Bannister said in working with Armstrong closely across the past four months, the two were able to build a greater relationship.
“I think now, he knows me better as a person, as an individual and also as a coach,†Bannister said. “I think he knows the coach that he’s getting. I think for me personally, the process of what I’ve gone through as a coach, whether it was in junior hockey, the American Hockey League or the NHL, I continued to get better.
“I believe I still have a lot of growth in myself as a coach in the National Hockey League. I’m looking forward to whatever’s next. Certainly, for me, the No. 1 option would be to stay with the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Blues and be the head coach of this hockey club.â€
Photos: Season over, ºüÀêÊÓƵ Blues players pack up and leave for summer
Blues players reflect on job Drew Bannister did on an interim basis: Blues Extra
When locker cleanout day arrived Thursday morning, Blues players weren’t sure if they’d played their final game under interim coach Drew Bannister.
“He came in, he held guys accountable and pushed us in a great direction,†Blues forward Jake Neighbours said. “I thought the players did a good job of accepting what was going on and embracing a new coach and a new way of doing things. He did a great job. He was awesome for us, and we enjoyed playing for him.â€
Bannister, who was 30-19-5 after taking over for the fired Craig Berube, is a finalist to earn the full-time coaching gig in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, general manager Doug Armstrong said. Blues players reiterated that the decision was not theirs to make, but they were asked about what it was like to play for Bannister.
“The record since he took over speaks for itself,†Blues forward Robert Thomas said. “I think we did a lot of positive things, and he was obviously a big part of that. It’s not our decision, and we’re not really a part of that process. I feel like as a group and as a team, we started to really click and find some momentum.â€
Blues captain Brayden Schenn: “He came in in a tough spot too because everyone loved Chief (Berube). Chief was obviously a face for the city, a face for the organization, the first coach to ever win the Cup. When he comes into that, it’s obviously hard for everyone. Drew came in and did a great job. We had a great record underneath him.â€
Bannister was previously the head coach of AHL affiliate Springfield (Massachusetts) before his promotion.
“It’s a learning curve for him, too, right?†Schenn said. “First time being an NHL coach. I think we bought in to what he was doing and we came together as a group, were able to have a good record. Whatever happens there, I guess we’ll all be following along.â€
Extended seasons?
The Blues could have multiple players playing at the upcoming World Championship, including goaltender Jordan Binnington. Binnington confirmed he would be playing for Canada at the tournament, perhaps a prelude to representing his country at the 4 Nations Face-Off next spring, and the Olympics the year after that.
Defenseman Colton Parayko said he wasn’t sure if he was going. Canada could also call on Jake Neighbours to go back to Worlds after he helped it win gold last year. When asked about Blues players going to Worlds, Armstrong said he would allow those countries to make the announcements.
Armstrong oversees the management team for Hockey Canada, and Rick Nash is the general manager of the team for the World Championship. Armstrong said it was Nash’s job to announce the team.
Injury report
The Blues had a relatively clean injury report Thursday, as Armstrong said Oskar Sundqvist’s surgery to repair a torn ACL would be the only injury that affects the club next season. Sundqvist missed the last 10 games of the season and was given a six-month timeline for recovery.
Neighbours, meanwhile, missed the last five games of the season with an upper-body injury suffered April 6 in San Jose.
“I think I was in a situation where if the games meant more, probably could have played,†Neighbours said. “Just being safe and cautious and not risking anything further.â€
AHL news
The Blues sent down forwards Zack Bolduc and Zach Dean plus defenseman Matthew Kessel to AHL affiliate Springfield on Thursday, adding bodies to the Thunderbirds roster for the last two games of the season.
Springfield is clinging to postseason hope, as it must win its last two games of the season and have Lehigh Valley lose all three of its games in regulation in order to clinch a playoff berth. If Springfield qualifies, Bolduc, Dean and Kessel would all be eligible to play in the playoffs.
Forward Adam Gaudette was also named to the AHL’s first All-Star team Thursday as he’s racked up a league-leading 44 goals and 25 assists in 65 games. Gaudette became the first Springfield player to be named to the first All-Star team. The only previous player on an All-Star team was Joel Hofer’s second-team honor last season.
Gaudette will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer.
Photos: Season over, ºüÀêÊÓƵ Blues players pack up and leave for summer
Blues GM Doug Armstrong talks about scoring next season
Bally Sports owner banks on streaming TV growth, expects Amazon Prime deal by October
ST. LOUIS — Diamond Sports Group believes it can rapidly grow its streaming business in the next few years and offset the sagging cable viewership that pushed the broadcast company into bankruptcy last year.
Court records filed this week show that Diamond — the parent of Cardinals and Blues broadcaster Bally Sports Midwest — expects a deal with Amazon to launch in October, ahead of the NBA and NHL seasons. As part of that agreement, Amazon Prime Video would become Diamond’s main streaming partner.
In the new filings, the company forecasts that while linear cable subscribers will continue to decline — to 24.9 million in 2026, from 29.8 million this year — direct-to-consumer streaming subscribers will grow to 3.4 million, from 1.1 million this year.
But the sports leagues that rely on Diamond to broadcast their games are raising concerns about the company’s timeline. Diamond’s networks broadcast games for 11 MLB, 15 NBA and 11 NHL teams.
The Cardinals’ current deal with Bally Sports could continue into 2025 and beyond, depending on decisions made in the bankruptcy proceedings. But Cardinals officials have said they want to give fans more ways to access games and would study various options, regardless of what happens with Bally.
Diamond filed for Chapter 11 protection last March, following years of mounting financial pressure and declining cable subscriptions. The case set off a period of uncertainty for the dozens of professional teams that Diamond pays for the right to broadcast games.
After nearly a year in bankruptcy, the company in January announced that it had secured a lifeline: a series of deals to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the business. A settlement agreement with parent company Sinclair promised $495 million in cash. And a deal with Amazon promised to bring the cable-reliant company further into the streaming business.
If executed properly, the proposal would allow Diamond to emerge from Chapter 11 proceedings and continue airing professional sports.
Over the past few weeks, the plan hit a hurdle when the NBA, MLB and NHL pushed back on Diamond’s request to take more time to work out those deals.
“These entities are beginning to get concerned,†said Abigail Willie, a visiting assistant professor at ºüÀêÊÓƵ University School of Law who reviewed the leagues’ responses. “They’re sitting there biting their nails, waiting to see if the debtor can pull this off.â€
The bankruptcy court judge approved an extension for Diamond this week, and the company offered assurances to the leagues at a hearing Wednesday. But the filings show that Diamond is under pressure to pull off several key negotiations in coming months.
In the court documents, attorneys for the NHL and NBA raised concerns that the bankruptcy case could stretch into another season. The NBA wrote that if Diamond fails to reach deals quickly and is forced to wind down its business, the league won’t have enough time to arrange another method of broadcasting its games and monetizing its rights for the 2024-25 season.
“These things do not happen overnight,†the NBA lawyers wrote. “They require time-consuming and costly preparation and sometimes challenging negotiations with third parties. After having had two NBA seasons adversely affected by (Diamond’s) financial distress and bankruptcy, the NBA and its fans should not be subjected to a third season of disruption and uncertainty.â€
An attorney for Diamond said during the hearing that the company is moving quickly and could get a plan finalized by mid-June, ahead of the basketball and hockey seasons.
Attorneys for MLB and seven of its teams (the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals were not among them) wrote in filings last week that they had “serious concerns†about the assumptions underpinning the bankruptcy plan. The league noted that Diamond depends on three distributors for the majority of its revenue — DirecTV, Charter and Comcast — but so far had only announced a renewal agreement with Charter. And the company hadn’t given evidence to support projections for its streaming business. Without those details, the attorneys wrote, the MLB couldn’t determine whether Diamond’s bankruptcy plan is viable.
Brian Hermann, an attorney for the company, said during Wednesday’s hearing that Diamond is confident it can reach agreements with DirecTV and Comcast.
Diamond filed a more detailed set of disclosures this week about its plan to emerge from bankruptcy, including its forecasts for streaming growth. On Wednesday, the judge said he planned to approve the disclosures, which a Diamond spokesperson called an “important step†in the company’s restructuring.