Drew Bannister (born April 9, 1974) is a Canadian former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

and current coach of the

Springfield Thunderbirds The Springfield Thunderbirds are a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League that began play for the 2016–17 season. They are the affiliate of the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues. Based in Springfield, M ...

in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

. He played in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

for the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Mighty may refer to: * ''Mighty'' (The Planet Smashers album) * ''Mighty'' (Kristene DiMarco album) * ''The Mighty'' (1929 film), a 1929 American action film *'' The Mighty'', a 1998 comedy-drama film * ''The Mighty'' (comics), a DC Comics title * ...

and

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

. He finished his playing career as player and head coach for the Braehead Clan of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...

. Bannister was born in

Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its populat ...

, but grew up in Sudbury,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Playing career

Bannister was selected in the second round of the

1992 NHL Entry Draft The 1992 NHL Entry Draft was the 30th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 20 at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. A total of 264 players were drafted. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Sergei Gonchar, who ret ...

, 26th overall, by the

. Bannister was drafted from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; french: Ligue de hockey de l'Ontario (LHO)) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The league is for players aged 16–19. There are exceptions for overa ...

(OHL) where he won a Memorial Cup in 1993 and was chosen to the Memorial Cup All-Star team 1991–92 and 1992–93. He also won a World Junior Championship with Canada in 1994. Upon completing his junior eligibility, Bannister spent a year and a half with the

Atlanta Knights The Atlanta Knights were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the International Hockey League from 1992 to 1996. The Knights were based in Atlanta, and played at the Omni Coliseum. In 1994 the Knights won the Turner Cup which was the I ...

of the International Hockey League, Tampa Bay's farm team. Bannister played in the minors for most of his career, but saw time in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) with the

, and

. His most successful season came in 1996–97, when he played 65 games, scored a career-high 18 points, and played in 12 playoff games for the Oilers. In 2002, Bannister moved to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and played for teams in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and Germany. He played in Kassel, Germany, in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons where he was chosen the best defenseman in the 2. Gbun, Germany's second highest league. He also scored the deciding goal in the playoff finals and Kassel returned to the top-tier

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

after two years. On August 6, 2009, Bannister made a return to North America after seven seasons, signing a one-year deal with the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

. He spent the majority of the season with their AHL affiliate Binghamton Senators, serving as captain. Binghamton's then-assistant coach, former AHL defenseman Mike Busniuk, happened to be Bannister's father-in-law.

Coaching career

On November 16, 2010, Bannister signed for the Hull Stingrays in the British

as a player and assistant coach. On July 29, 2011, Bannister was announced as a player and head coach of the Braehead Clan in the British Elite Ice Hockey League for the 2011–12 season, replacing Bruce Richardson. On June 2, 2012, Bannister was announced as an assistant coach for the OHL's

Owen Sound Attack The Owen Sound Attack are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League based in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. Based in Owen Sound since 1989, and operating under the current name since 2000, the Attack play their home games at the J.D. ...

, which effectively ended his playing career. On July 10, 2015, he left the assistant coaching job in Owen Sound to become a head coach for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. On June 5, 2018, he was hired as the head coach of the

San Antonio Rampage The San Antonio Rampage were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League based in San Antonio, Texas. The Rampage was primarily owned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment throughout the team's existence. In 2020, the franchise was sold ...

in the

(AHL), the top development team for the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

of the NHL. In 2020, after the Rampage were sold and moved to southern Nevada, Bannister became head coach of the new Blues' affiliate in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Transactions

*March 18, 1997 -

trades Bannister and a sixth-round draft pick ( Peter Sarno) to

for

Jeff Norton Jeffrey Thomas Norton (born November 25, 1965) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career Norton was selected in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Isla ...

. *January 9, 1998 - Edmonton trades Bannister to

for Bobby Dollas. *December 10, 1998 - Anaheim trades Bannister to Tampa Bay for a fifth-round draft pick. *September 8, 2000 - Bannister signs with the

. *July 27, 2001 - Bannister signs with Anaheim. *August 6, 2009 - Bannister signs with

. *November 16, 2010 - Bannister signs with Hull Stingrays.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bannister, Drew 1974 births Atlanta Knights players Binghamton Senators players Braehead Clan players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Scotland Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian ice hockey defencemen Cincinnati Mighty Ducks players Edmonton Oilers players Espoo Blues players Hartford Wolf Pack players Hull Stingrays players Ice hockey people from Ontario Ice hockey player-coaches Kassel Huskies players Las Vegas Thunder players Living people Mighty Ducks of Anaheim players New York Rangers players Nürnberg Ice Tigers players Oulun Kärpät players Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds players Severstal Cherepovets players Sportspeople from Belleville, Ontario Sportspeople from Greater Sudbury Tampa Bay Lightning draft picks Tampa Bay Lightning players