By Jeremy Rutherford (The Athletic)
ST. LOUIS — More than four years after the Blues put the “interim” tag on Craig Berube, the 57-year-old is still behind the team’s bench.
Yes, Berube won a Stanley Cup in his first season, 2018-19, and that will certainly extend the honeymoon period. But the early heights he reached are part of what is so amazing about what Berube’s done with the Blues. The fuzzy feelings have passed, the club has fallen, and he’s still considered the right guy for the job.
Berube reached a rare milestone Wednesday night against the Wild: one of six people in NHL history to have played 1,000-plus games and coached 500-plus games. It’s an accomplishment that Blues owner Tom Stillman said speaks volumes about Berube’s career.
The Athletic sat with Stillman in his suite during the first period, and he sized up his appreciation of what Berube’s done since replacing Mike Yeo in 2018.
“You put an interim guy in there, and we’re last in the league, and go on to win the Cup, and now here we are in a tough spot, and we’re still here,” Stillman said. “That is pretty amazing. It’s the consistency, which is shown by the milestone he just reached.
“I mean, 1,000 games, when you think about what his role was — it’s beyond comprehension what kind of perseverance that shows. To combine that with coaching 500 games, and the success he’s had, that’s a really impressive record of consistency. And the names on that list, that’s really impressive company.”
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