Editor鈥檚 note: This is the sixth of 10 installments analyzing questions facing the Blues entering the 2024-25 season.
5. What changes can Drew Bannister install during training camp?
Drew Bannister has run training camps before.
Across the last decade, that鈥檚 what he鈥檚 done in Sault Ste. Marie of the OHL, and in San Antonio and Springfield of the AHL. He has experience as a head coach, and it鈥檚 part of the reason why Bannister was the team鈥檚 choice as interim coach when it fired Craig Berube last December. When training camp opens in less than two weeks, though, it鈥檒l be Bannister鈥檚 biggest chance to put his own stamp on the Blues.
When Bannister was the interim coach for the last 54 games of the season, much of his focus was on the next day, the next practice, the next game. There wasn鈥檛 too much time to reset systems, preach tactical adjustments, or instill his vision for what he wanted his team to look like. Instead, his focus was to survive and to try to qualify for the playoffs.
That should be different this season.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e coming in at the beginning of the year and it鈥檚 your team, you鈥檙e able to start to build what you want to see, what you envision as your team,鈥 Bannister said in the spring. 鈥淚 think there was already a vision here put in place. For me, it wasn鈥檛 (about) looking to blow things up. It was just sit back, look and identify areas that we can get better at in our game to help us without changing things drastically.鈥
There were tweaks that he (and the rest of the Blues coaching staff) made.
The Blues changed their structure and personnel on the power play. They changed their breakouts. They changed their neutral zone play. They changed their offensive zone attack when they realized they weren鈥檛 getting enough traffic at the net-front.
With a full training camp upcoming, more adjustments could be on the way.
鈥淲ould I make major changes? I don鈥檛 think so,鈥 Bannister said in the spring. 鈥淚 think there鈥檇 be more tweaks, whether it鈥檚 the way we defend, the way we track, but a lot of that starts off your forecheck and builds its way back. There鈥檚 areas where we can improve in, and we鈥檝e kind of identified some of those areas in our game, when we don鈥檛 have the puck on our stick that we have to get better at.鈥
Bannister spent this summer prepping for this fall.
Now afforded the security of a two-year contract and an offseason鈥檚 worth of free time, Bannister got to know his players better as people. When the Blues held development camp in July, that was a key moment for Bannister鈥檚 staff to create practice plans for camp two months after that. He鈥檚 had some time to toy with line combinations and possible pairings, as well as special teams deployment.
The Blues also hired Claude Julien as an assistant coach, an addition that should fill in some gaps for the team.
Julien, 64, is one of the most experienced coaches in NHL history, as he ranks in the top 20 in games coached and wins, both in the regular season and in the playoffs. He won the Stanley Cup in Boston in 2011, and is regarded as a sharp hockey mind on the defensive side of the game.
Of course, Julien鈥檚 experience helps offset the youth of Bannister (50 years old), associate coach Steve Ott (42) and assistant coach Mike Weber (36). Weber will actually be younger than one of the defensemen he鈥檚 coaching: 39-year-old Ryan Suter.