Bannister has helped turn Blues season around; interim coach is still proving himself to organization, veterans

But what about the veterans? What about Jordan Binnington? What about Pavel Buchnevich? Brayden Schenn? Torey Krug? Brandon Saad? Kevin Hayes? Nick Leddy? Colton Parayko? Oskar Sundqvist? Justin Faulk? And all the other veterans on the team that the majority have only played for and known Berube, five who had won a Stanley Cup with him in 2019?

That seemed to be the greatest challenge when there's a sudden in-season change. Now it's a different voice, a different philosophy, a different leader behind the bench.

But this is a former player, from junior to the International Hockey League to the NHL and American Hockey League and Europe, Bannister has seen it all and been through it.

Well, it's been a decent transition thus far through 25 games, or roughly a little more than quarter of a season to gauge the impact he's had on the Blues to this point.

Bannister, who began his coaching career at the junior level, first at Owen Sound of the Ontario Hockey League to Soo before taking over the Blues' minor league teams in San Antonio, then a season in Utica before spending the past two-plus seasons in Springfield of the AHL, has the Blues off to a 15-9-1 start, good for a .620 winning percentage, which is 10th-best in the league in that stretch.

It was obviously going to take some adjusting. Nothing ever really transitions over quickly and smoothly. In these situations, it's mostly done in the fly. Many of these Blues know that all too well when Berube took over for Mike Yeo on Nov. 20, 2018 and went on to win the franchise's first Stanley Cup. But Bannister has the Blues playing meaningful games, currently holding down the second wild card from the Western Conference.

"It's obviously different," Thomas said. "For me, I've had one coach the whole time, so it's been a little bit of an adjustment, but he's a guy that's a hockey mind. He likes to talk hockey and think hockey. I think he's fit in that way as well."

Bannister wasn't going to come in and be all authoritarian. Winning over the veterans was going to be important. He relied on the leaders of the team.

"For me, you have to give the leadership group a lot of credit," Bannister said. "They've been very open with me. Every second, pending on our schedule, I'd touch base with individual guys like Robby and 'Schenner'. 'Faulker's injured right now, but he's still an important part of our team, but he has eyes in the stands and sees things, what's going on from a bird's eye view. It's important for him and 'Pary'. But my communication has been what I've talked about and what we need from our group. To have them leading by example, I think they're a big part of our success in how we've turned things around and playing good hockey and playing consistent hockey, they should take a lot of credit for that because they're a big part of that."

Communication is key. If players don't know who you are or understand what you're all about, then the guessing will translate to the ice and the message gets lost.

"Communication is kind of the most important thing, especially in sports, between players, between player-coach, between everything," Thomas said. "Communication's really important. That's something that we've harped on since he's gotten here. He's done the job of doing that. I think communication's the most important thing.

"There's been some open conversations about how we see the game and how he sees the game and I think those things are important in getting everyone moving in the right direction and I think that's what you've seen from our team those big games where we're all coming together and all see it the same way. I think that's important."

Despite the solid start, Bannister is still proving himself. He was given the interim tag and not the permanent coach -- yet. That's how the organization is dealing with it, that's how some of the players are treating it.

"It's still early, it's still fresh," Schenn said. "Right now, we're focusing on winning hockey games.

"We're still trying to get to know each other. Not only me, but the veteran guys as well. But just messaging in the locker room, throughout the game and stuff like that, he has a good message for the guys and guys have responded to it."

What's probably helped is that Bannister didn't try and come in and be someone different, someone that he felt would fit the narrative of the group. It was pretty clear who he was and who he is when he talked of holding players accountable for their actions, when he benched Buchnevich in the third period of a 6-1 loss against the Tampa Bay Lighting, after Buchnevich took three hooking penalties.

"I'm not an insecure guy; I know who I am," Bannister said. "I guess at the end of the day, it's just me being myself. I know I've had success, whether it's in the American League or junior being myself. I can't change who I am, but at the end of the day, it comes down to communication and talking to them about what I see, asking them and getting their opinion on what they feel and what they see and then us making a decision as a group and moving forward for the betterment for the guys in the room."

There's still much work left to be done. Bannister hasn't transformed the Blues into an upper echelon team just yet. But in winning, one improved area has come from the power play. The Blues are sixth in the league at 27.5 percent since the coaching switch after anguishing near or at the bottom for much of the early portion of the season. The penalty kill has improved, the goals per game have improved, goals-against, many categories that had the team at 14-15-1 when the firing occurred.

The Blues most nights are pulling on the same rope, and it's been evident in some of the wins they've picked up along the way against the top-end teams in the league.

"I think that's been our key to success lately," Thomas said. 'That's what championship teams do and that's what teams that have success in the playoffs do. I think we're well on our way to that. You can tell just from the way we practice, the energy we have, the fun we have, even on those tough practice days, travel and all that stuff. It's looking really well and I think we're all really happy with the direction of our team and what we're building here."

It's still up in the air whether general manager Doug Armstrong and the management team decide to keep Bannister as the permanent coach moving forward. There are still obstacles that need to be reached and goals achieved, but so far, it's been a positive start, and as long as these remaining 28 games remain relevant, the chances of him staying on increase.