Blues fire assistants MacTavish, Van Ryn
Published
The St. Louis Blues announced changes to their coaching staff on Friday, firing a pair of Craig Berube's assistants in Craig MacTavish and Mike Van Ryn.
A four-time Stanley Cup winner as a player, this past campaign was MacTavish's lone season on the Blues bench.
After playing for 16 seasons from 1979 to 1997 with the Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oliers, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Blues, MacTavish stayed in the game as both a coach and a a general manager.
The London, Ont. native began his coaching career with the Rangers as an assistant before joining the Oilers two years later and was promoted to head coach in 2000. In eight years as Oilers bench boss, MacTavish amassed a 301-252-47-56 mark, reaching the playoffs on three occasions and making the Stanley Cup Final in 2006. After his firing in 2009, MacTavish rejoined the team in 2013 as GM, a role in which he served for two years.
Van Ryn, 43, spent five seasons on the Blues bench as an assistant and won a Stanley Cup with the team in 2019.
Also from London, Ont., Van Ryan played in 353 NHL games over eight NHL seasons with the Blues, Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Blues missed the playoffs for just the second time in the past 12 seasons.