The Blues have not determined whether to add another assistant coach to their NHL staff, general manager Doug Armstrong said earlier this week.
In a pre-draft meeting with reporters, Armstrong said that coach Drew Bannister âis working through that right now,â adding that heâs had âreally good conversationsâ with people.
âWrite down what you want and then put the names at the top and theyâve got to check these boxes of what you want,â Armstrong said. âWeâre not going to bring someone on to this staff that doesnât check those boxes to say that weâve added an assistant. Thatâs what heâs going through now to see if thereâs someone that he believes makes he and his staff better. Iâm not going to share the vision of what he wants as a coach. Thatâs up to him to find, but itâs not built for everybody what heâs looking for.â
When the Blues removed the interim tag from Bannister in May, they confirmed the same coaching staff would return from last season, with the caveat the team may look to add another position. Last season, Steve Ott coached the forwards and the power play while Mike Weber handled the defensemen and the penalty kill.
Bannister took over in December on an interim basis after the Blues fired Craig Berube. Under Bannister, the Blues went 30-19-5 the rest of the season, and he signed a two-year contract to be the Blues head coach through the 2025-26 season.
With Bannister remaining in şüÀêÊÓĈµ, the Blues had to fill his previous position as the head coach of AHL affiliate Springfield. They did so by hiring Steve Konowalchuk and added assistant coaches Jaroslav Modry and Chad Wiseman.
Konowalchuk spent last season as an associate head coach with AHL Colorado, but has previous head coaching experience in the WHL with Seattle (2011-17) and Red Deer (2021-23). He won the 2017 WHL championship in Seattle.
Konowalchuk also has NHL experience as an assistant coach with Colorado (2009-11) and Anaheim (2017-18), and a scout with the Rangers (2018-21).
âWhat I liked about him was his success heâs had at the major junior level,â Armstrong said. âTalking to the owners of the teams that heâs played for and the guys that he worked with, where his strengths are.â
Armstrong reiterated that the priority in the AHL is on development with winning secondary. He said the split was about 55-45.
âI know when you lose all the time, you understand how to lose,â Armstrong said. âWhen you win all the time, you understand how to win. What we donât want to be is be an organization that believes that our players are getting better in a losing environment because when they get here (to şüÀêÊÓĈµ), do they know how to win? Knowing how to win is very important also.â
Wiseman is a familiar face to one Blues prospect, as he coached defenseman Michael Buchinger as the head coach of Guelph in the OHL for the last two years. Armstrong said Wisemanâs familiarity with Buchinger didnât factor into his hiring, and added that Wiseman would not be coaching the defensemen, anyway.
âGave him a good character reference, I guess, both ways,â Armstrong said. âEvery level you go up, thereâs cross-pollination of when you cross with people. (Wiseman) wasnât brought on to expedite (Buchingerâs) development.â
Blues announce preseason schedule
The Blues will play seven preseason games, beginning at 6 p.m. Sept. 21 at Dallas.
şüÀêÊÓĈµ will play three exhibition games at Enterprise Center, two in road NHL arenas and two in neutral sites.
When şüÀêÊÓĈµ plays the Utah Hockey Club on Sept. 22 in Des Moines, it will be the first exhibition game for Utah since it moved from Arizona this offseason. The Blues and Blackhawks are reportedly playing in Milwaukee on Oct. 5 in the preseason finale, but neither team has officially announced the location.
With preseason set to begin Sept. 21, that could mean that the prospect showcase could be held the weekend before, from Sept. 13-15. It will be held at Centene Community Ice Center and will feature prospects from the Blues, Blackhawks and Wild.
Here is the full preseason schedule:
Sept. 21 at Dallas, 6 p.m.
Sept. 22 vs. Utah, 6 p.m. (Des Moines)
Sept. 25 at Columbus, 6 p.m.
Sept. 28 vs. Chicago, 7 p.m.
Oct. 1 vs. Columbus, 7 p.m.
Oct. 3 vs. Dallas, 7 p.m.
Oct. 5 vs. Chicago, 7 p.m. (reportedly Milwaukee)
â Blues prospect Paul Fischer was invited by USA Hockey to the World Junior Summer Showcase in Michigan from July 26-Aug. 3. The event will also feature teams from Canada, Sweden and Finland.
Fischer was a fifth-round pick by şüÀêÊÓĈµ in last yearâs draft and spent his freshman season playing top-four minutes on defense for Notre Dame. Heâs a candidate to play for American at the World Juniors in the winter, potentially joining Dalibor Dvorsky (Slovakia), Otto Stenberg (Sweden), Theo Lindstein (Sweden), Juraj Pekarcik (Slovakia) and Jakub Stancl (Czechia), who all played in the tournament last year as 18-year-olds.