Blues extend Steve Ott after Thunderbirds’ surprise playoff run

The Blues are betting that Springfield’s wild spring was the start of something larger. By giving Steve Ott a two-year extension on June 10, 2026, St. Louis kept the coach who guided the Thunderbirds through a late-season surge, a first-round comeback against Charlotte and the biggest upset in AHL history against Providence.

Ott’s case was built over the final 34 games of the regular season, when Springfield went 19-13-2-0 and climbed into the Calder Cup Playoffs as the Atlantic Division’s sixth seed. The run gave the Thunderbirds enough traction to matter in April and enough confidence to matter in May. It also showed the Blues that a fast adjustment to a new voice can translate into results, which is exactly what an NHL organization wants from its AHL affiliate.

The payoff came against Providence. The Bruins won the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy, finished 38 points ahead of Springfield and looked like a heavy favorite in the division semifinals. Instead, the Thunderbirds closed the series on May 7 with a 1-0 overtime win when Dillon Dube scored 4:01 into the extra period. Georgi Romanov was the difference across the four games, going 5-1 with a 1.47 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage. In the clincher, Blues first-round picks Adam Jiříček and Justin Carbonneau also made their AHL debuts, a small but telling sign of how the affiliate is being used to accelerate the next wave of talent.

The extension also fits the Blues’ wider development structure. Ott joined the St. Louis staff on May 25, 2017, spent seven seasons as an assistant and was promoted to associate coach before the 2024-25 season. During his time behind the NHL bench, the Blues went 350-244-74 in the regular season, made five playoff trips and won the 2019 Stanley Cup. Ott also played 122 regular-season games and 21 playoff games for St. Louis after arriving in a Feb. 28, 2014 trade from Buffalo, giving him a rare blend of coaching and playing credibility inside the same organization.

Springfield’s stability has become a business story as much as a hockey one. The club’s affiliation with St. Louis began in 2020 and runs through the 2030-31 season after the 2024 extension, while the Thunderbirds had already put 2026-27 season tickets on sale as the playoff run unfolded. That continuity matters in a city with deep AHL roots dating to 1936, and it matters even more after Springfield reached the Calder Cup Finals in 2021-22, the franchise’s first Finals trip and the city’s first since 1991. With Ott now officially the fifth head coach in Thunderbirds history, the Blues are signaling that they want the sudden rise to become the new standard.