St. Louis Blues relieve assistant coaches Craig MacTavish and Mike Van Ryn of coaching duties

This morning, St. Louis Blues President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced that the Blues have relieved assistant coaches Craig MacTavish and Mike Van Ryn of their duties effective immediately.

The team will have more information during the end-of-season press conference on Saturday morning.

McTavish joined the Blues coaching staff at the beginning of the 2022-23 season and served as the lone assistant coach behind the bench. Following his 17-year NHL tenure that saw him hoist four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, he actually ended his career with the Blues in 1996-97. He served as an assistant coach with the New York Rangers for two seasons and was a head coach for the Oilers from 2000-2009. He was then Head Coach of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves for one season before rejoining the Oilers in a management role from 2012-2019.

Van Ryn joined the Blues in 2018 and spent five seasons as an assistant coach. Before joining the Blues, Van Ryn played for the Blues, Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs, appearing in 353 NHL games. Following his NHL playing career, Van Ryn served as an assistant coach in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Niagara IceDog, and Kitchener Rangers. In 2015-16 he was promoted to Head Coach of the Rangers and led them to a 44-17-0 record. Van Ryn then made the jump to the AHL, where he was head coach of the Tucson Roadrunners. He was behind the bench during the Blues’ Stanley Cup-winning season in 2018-19.

Armstrong also announced that assistant coach Steve Ott and goaltending coach David Alexander will remain on the team’s coaching staff. The same goes for video coach Darryl Seward and video coordinator Elliott Mondou.