Berube signs three-year extension

Coach will remain with Blues through 2024-25 season, 

guided franchise to first-ever Stanley Cup in 2019 

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Craig Berube is staying put.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues coach Craig Berube signed a three-year extension on

Wednesday to remain with the organization through 2024-25

The Blues' coach, who helped guide them to the first-ever Stanley Cup in the franchise's history in 2019 when he was the interim head coach, signed a three-year contract extension Wednesday that will keep him in St. Louis through the 2024-25 season.

The 56-year-old took over on Nov. 18, 2018 after Mike Yeo was fired and guided the Blues to a 38-19-6 record, helping the team go from worst to first that culminated in a Stanley Cup win against the Boston Bruins in seven games on June 12, 2019.

"As an organization, we're excited to have Craig continue as our head coach," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. "Obviously coming in a few years ago and the success we had in the playoffs in ’19 and then the regular season success over the last couple of years has been very good. We like our team this year, we like where it’s heading and I think we have the perfect coach for this group."

Berube, in his fourth season, is 133-72-30, a .630 winning percentage, during the regular season and which represents the ninth-best points percentage during that span. Currently, Berube is seventh in Blues history in games coached and fourth in wins.

"I'd like to thank (owner) Tom Stillman and Doug Armstrong for giving me the opportunity to continue to coach here," Berube said. "There's no other place I'd rather be. I’ve enjoyed the relationship I've had with Doug, working-wise and personal. I think it's grown over the years and it's really in a good spot right now. I enjoy St. Louis and I enjoy the team. Like Doug said, I think we've got a real good hockey team here going forward, and we can do some damage. So I'm excited."

It's no secret that Berube, a former player with more than 1,000-plus games of NHL experience, is touted by players as a great communicator who knows when to push buttons at the right  time and right place.

Players love playing for him, no question.

"He's a guy that we obviously trust and we all love playing for him," defenseman Torey Krug said. "He's got a great pulse on the room and fun to play for a guy like that. So obviously it's congratulations to him and we're excited that he's locked in.

"I think that knowledge of being in the locker room at one time and the way he played the game, he understands how to communicate a message and get a message through to certain guys and different personalities. He's great and it's also a guy that would love to be sitting right next to you in the locker room and going to battle with you. That resonates with guys and obviously you want to show up for him."

Captain Ryan O'Reilly agreed.

"What I like about him a lot is his pulse that he has on the game and seeing what our group needs at different times," O'Reilly said. "I guess another way of saying it is just his timing, the way he delivers it. There's so many things, the way he steps back and just analyzes the game for us and seeing what our group needs. It's very impressive. For myself, it's been a really fun things to be able to see and be a part of as well.

"He's one of the best (communicators) I've had, especially too as I get older, the older I get, the more relationship you have with a coach. I've been so impressed and fortunate to be able to play under him and have a good relationship with him. It's also too pretty amazing the way ... there's no ego with him. He truly wants to win. The way he listens, not only to me, but to other players and is so respectful and honest. It's an amazing thing and it's the reason why he's such a great coach."

Berube joined the Blues as an associate coach on June 15, 2017. Prior to joining the organization, he was coach of the Philadelphia Flyers (2013-15) and the American Hockey League's Philadelphia Phantoms (2006-08) and Chicago Wolves (2016-17), who were the affiliate of the Blues then.

Berube recently reached 200 wins as an NHL coach, becoming just the seventh in NHL history to reach 200 or more wins as an NHL coach and to have played in 1,000 or more games.

"It does help for sure that I was fortunate enough to play the game and be in a locker room and I had a number of different coaches throughout my career and players and leaders that I've learned from over time, but also just as a coach, the more years you coach and the more experience you get, you learn a lot more about you know, things you're talking about, when to push buttons and certain buttons," Berube said. "I think the game's changed over the years. It's really a player's league and you got to really communicate with players nowadays, it’s very important. They want to know why things are happening or why you're doing this and so that communication is really important and that's changed over time. Back when I played there wasn't a lot of communication between a coach and a player and nowadays it's all about that."

The Blues had some time during the All-Star break to hammer out the final details, but it was a process that began well before it.

"Actually, we talked prior to Christmas, Craig and I," Armstrong said. "There was really no feeling, I think, from either side that we were concerned that we're not going get something done. We talked at Christmas and said it's probably the right time to start the discussions and I started to talk to Craig’s representative Steve Mountain, who did a great job and we just sort of talked on and off and then we thought at this Olympic break or All-Star break, I guess now, was the proper time to see if we could get it finished and we were able to do that."

Berube added, "I got a job to do and that's what I focus on, coming to the rink and doing my job. If it's going to get done, it's going to get done, but I got a job to do and that's what I focus on. Like Doug said, I wasn't stressed out over it. I think we were both in a good spot. We thought it was going to get done."