Blues GM Opens Up About Firing Coach, What's Next in St Louis

St Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong had several sleepless nights leading up to firing head coach Craig Berube and it's becoming quite obvious if things don't change from here, major trades are next.

Armstrong relieved Berube of his duties earlier this week and hired Drew Bannister in his place. The Blues GM recently caught up with the media and admitted it was one of the hardest decisions of his life:

I haven't really slept much since the Columbus game (on Friday). Then the Chicago game (on Saturday) was a sleepless night, and then you hope that (Tuesday's) Detroit game will be different. But your mind is starting to work when you're everybody's homecoming game. It's not a good feeling.

The last three games, I shared with the leadership group that when you get up and you read the clippings the next day, the players from the opposition, the coaches, are (saying) 'What a character win, what a gutsy win, I can't believe we did that last night, we're undermanned, we played the night before against a rested team.' So if they feel that way about their performance, how would we feel about our performance? It's uncomfortable when you go to the arena every night and you're not really sure what your team is going to look like. ... That's something we haven't felt here for a long time.

You come to an organization because you make it better and you want to leave it in a better spot. ... If I get fired in the next hour or I get hit by a bus in the next hour, I don't feel today I've left it any better than where I found it, and that's an awful feeling.

The Blues are 13-14-1 on the season, however are just one point back of the final wildcard spot in the west. If Bannister can't motivate the group to perform, Armstrong will have no choice but to make some major changes to his roster. This could include asking several core pieces to waive their no-trade protection including Torey Krug, Colton Parayko and Jordan Binnington. 

Photo credit:  Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports