List of St. Louis Blues head coaches

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.[6] 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.[7] 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,[8] Bannister was promoted to permanent head coach on May 7, 2024.[9]

# Number of coaches[a]
GC Games coached
W Wins = 2 points
L Losses = 0 points
T Ties = 1 point
OT Overtime/shootout losses = 1 point[b]
PTS Points
Win% Winning percentage
* Spent entire NHL coaching career with the Blues
Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder

Coaches

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Scotty Bowman has coached the Blues for two stints that comprise four seasons.
 
Mike Keenan (shown with the Calgary Flames) coached the Blues for three seasons.
 
Davis Payne coached the Blues for 137 games from 2010 to 2011.
 
Ken Hitchcock was the head coach of the Blues from 2011 until 2017.
 
Mike Yeo served as head coach of the Blues from 2017 to 2018.

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2023–24 regular season.

# Name Term[c] 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 [10]
2 Scotty Bowman 19671970 210 97 79 40 234 .557 46 24 22 .522 [11]
3 Al Arbour 1970–1971 50 21 15 14 56 .560 [12]
Scotty Bowman† 1971 28 13 10 5 31 .553 6 2 4 .333 [11]
4 Sid Abel 1971 10 3 6 1 7 .350 [13]
5 Bill McCreary, Sr. 1971 24 6 14 4 16 .333 [14]
Al Arbour† 19711972 57 21 25 11 53 .447 11 4 7 .364 [12]
6 Jean-Guy Talbot 19721974 120 52 53 15 119 .496 5 1 4 .200 [15]
7 Lou Angotti 1974 32 6 20 6 18 .281 [16]
Lynn Patrick 1974 2 1 0 1 3 .750 [10]
8 Garry Young 19741975 98 41 41 16 98 .500 2 0 2 .000 [17]
Lynn Patrick 1975–1976 8 3 5 0 6 .375 [10]
9 Leo Boivin* 1976 43 17 17 9 43 .500 3 1 2 .333 [18]
10 Emile Francis 1976–1977 80 32 39 9 73 .456 4 0 4 .000 [19]
Leo Boivin* 1977–1978 80 20 47 13 53 .331 [18]
11 Barclay Plager* 19781979 104 25 64 15 65 .310 [20]
12 Red Berenson* 19791982 204 100 72 32 232 .569 14 5 9 .357 1980–81 Jack Adams Award winner[6] [21]
Emile Francis† 19821982 44 14 25 5 33 .375 10 5 5 .500 [19]
Barclay Plager* 1982–1983 48 15 21 12 42 .438 4 1 3 .250 [20]
13 Jacques Demers 19831986 240 106 106 28 240 .500 33 16 17 .485 [22]
14 Jacques Martin 19861988 160 66 71 23 155 .484 16 7 9 .438 [23]
15 Brian Sutter 19881992 320 153 124 43 349 .545 41 20 21 .488 1990–91 Jack Adams Award winner[6] [24]
16 Bob Plager* 1992 11 4 6 1 9 .409 [25]
17 Bob Berry 19921994 157 73 63 21 167 .532 15 7 8 .467 [26]
18 Mike Keenan 19941996 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 19972004 593 307 191 95 709 .598 68 34 34 .500 1999–2000 Jack Adams Award winner[6] [29]
21 Mike Kitchen* 20042006 131 38 70 23 99 .378 [30]
22 Andy Murray 20062010 258 118 102 38 274 .531 4 0 4 .000 [31]
23 Davis Payne* 20102011 137 67 55 15 149 .544 [32]
24 Ken Hitchcock 20112017 413 248 124 41 537 .650 45 20 25 .444 2011–12 Jack Adams Award winner[6] [33]
25 Mike Yeo 20172018 133 73 49 11 157 .590 [34]
26 Craig Berube 20182023 382 206 132 44 239 .594 51 24 27 .471 2019 Stanley Cup championship [35]
27 Drew Bannister* 2023–present 54 30 19 5 65 .602 [36]

Notes

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  • a A running total of the number of coaches of the Blues. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
  • b Before the 2005–06 season, the NHL instituted a penalty shootout for regular season games that remained tied after a five-minute overtime period, which prevented ties.[37]
  • c Each year is linked to an article about that particular NHL season.

References

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General

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  • "St. Louis Blues Coach Register". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2010-01-02.

Specific

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  1. ^ "Teams". NHL Enterprises, L.P. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  2. ^ "Franchise History". St Louis Blues Hockey Club. NHL Enterprises, L.P. Archived from the original on 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  3. ^ "Front Office". St Louis Blues Hockey Club. NHL Enterprises, L.P. Archived from the original on 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  4. ^ "Roster". St Louis Blues Hockey Club. NHL Enterprises, L.P. Archived from the original on 2009-02-27. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  5. ^ "Bob Bryant Plager". Hockey Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2004-08-21. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Jack Adams Award". NHL Enterprises, L.P. Archived from the original on 2008-07-06. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  7. ^ "Hockey Hall of Fame inductees - Builders by Induction Year". Hockey Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  8. ^ "Blues relieve Berube of coaching duties". NHL.com. December 12, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  9. ^ "Bannister signs 2-year contract to remain Blues coach". NHL.com. May 7, 2024. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c "Lynn Patrick Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  11. ^ a b "Scotty Bowman Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  12. ^ a b "Al Arbour Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  13. ^ "Sid Abel Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  14. ^ "Bill McCreary Sr. Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  15. ^ "Jean-Guy Talbot Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  16. ^ "Lou Angotti Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  17. ^ "Garry Young Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  18. ^ a b "Leo Boivin Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  19. ^ a b "Emile Francis Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  20. ^ a b "Barclay Plager Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  21. ^ "Red Berenson Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  22. ^ "Jacques Demers Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  23. ^ "Jacques Martin Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  24. ^ "Brian Sutter Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  25. ^ "Bob Plager Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  26. ^ "Bob Berry Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  27. ^ "Mike Keenan Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  28. ^ "Jim Roberts Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  29. ^ "Joel Quenneville Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  30. ^ "Mike Kitchen Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  31. ^ "Andy Murray Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  32. ^ "Davis Payne Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
  33. ^ "Ken Hitchcock Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  34. ^ "Mike Yeo Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  35. ^ "Craig Berube Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
  36. ^ "Drew Bannister Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
  37. ^ "Official Rules" (PDF). NHL Enterprises, L.P. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2009-03-08.