St. Louis Blues: Craig Berube’s case for the Jack Adams
The Jack Adams Award is given to the best coach in the NHL. With the run the St. Louis Blues have been on, Craig Berube is a strong candidate.
Early in the season, the St. Louis Blues were floundering. After making huge acquisitions in free agency, getting names like Ryan O’Reilly, Tyler Bozak, and David Perron, the Blues were favored to take a huge step after missing the playoffs by a single point in the previous season.
Instead, they came out slow, losing 5 of their first 6 games and it never got much better. Chad Johnson and Jake Allen were not performing and on November 20, they fired their head coach, Mike Yeo. At the time, the Blues had a 7-9-3 record and were near the bottom of the standings. Craig Berube came in as the interim coach, but the playoff hopes seemed bleak.
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However, since the calendar turned to 2019, the Blues have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL. Before January rolled around, the Blues had a 15-18-4 record and it seemed like their playoff hopes were dashed. Ever since, they have gone 23-9-4 and are third in the Central Division with 84 points, just 4 points shy of the Nashville Predators.
A big reason for their success has been the dominance of Jordan Binnington. He’s played 25 games and has a .930 save percentage and a 1.78 goals against average. He’s been great, but the team in front of him has been playing solid defensively as well, all thanks to the new coach. On average, Binnington sees 25 shots a night while Chad Johnson saw 28 in the first half of the season.
The team is limiting the shots against and a lot of the shots that do go through are not high-danger chances. For example, last night, they completely demolished the Edmonton Oilers 7-2, outshooting them 46-16.
A big thing that Berube emphasizes is “confidence”. When he was named the interim head coach, he had this to say at the press conference.
“We’ve got to move forward and get better. That’s the plan. We’ve definitely got to instil some confidence back in this hockey team. It’s a good hockey team. We’ve got good players.”
He has given different players different roles and you can see how it has impacted them positively. Instead of trying to do everything at once, Berube gives them certain tasks to execute perfectly. You can see the effect it has on everyone, like Pat Maroon. Yes he continues to throw the body and occasionally drop the gloves, but he can now drive a line and produce offensively if need be. Recently, he recorded his 200th point against the Buffalo Sabres.
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Berube has given the Blues’ players confidence and is guiding them towards their first playoff appearance in two years. He has rejuvenated a dejected team and should definitely be in the Jack Adams conversation.