Blues GM Doug Armstrong has one candidate for head coaching position, and that’s Craig Berube

Some things go under the radar, like the fact that the Korean War isn’t really over, or that the Blues still have an interim head coach in Craig Berube. It’s seemed like such a gimmie for months now that Berube would be sticking with the Blues that fans can be forgiven for not remembering that he isn’t the official head coach. He was brought on in November after a disastrous start to the season and he’s had the interim label since then, through an 11 game winning streak and a trip to the Western Conference finals.

It doesn’t look like he’s going to have that label for much longer.

During a press conference today, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said that his coaching search was narrowed down to one: the Blues’ current Jack Adams nominee.

“We were gonna support Craig and we were looking outside at potential candidates, whether it be major junior, Europe, the NHL, the American Hockey League. And as I started to work with Craig, whatever name was on the (candidate) list started to get crossed off and crossed off.

”Then I found the synergy that Craig and I have had. Now we’re at a list of one.”

They’ll be hammering out a contract deal after this season is done, and hopefully not before June. The only team in the NHL that played better than Berube’s Blues were the Tampa Bay Lightning, and only one of those two teams even made it past the first round of the playoffs.

There’s no reason for the Blues to continue to look elsewhere for coaching. Berube has built a rapport with the players, he’s respected, and he knows how to motivate them through not just stretches of rough play, but through absolutely abysmal times that can suck all of the morale out of a locker room. It takes a special kind of coach with a special kind of patience to do what Berube can do. Sticking with the status quo is the best thing that the Blues can do here.