The Springfield Thunderbirds have become the third team in the AHL to see their head coach dismissed this season.

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Head coach Steve Konowalchuk was fired Monday morning by the St. Louis Blues and will be replaced by long-time NHL forward and assistant coach Steve Ott for the remainder of the season. With the Thunderbirds set to face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a Monday matinee, assistant coach Chad Wiseman will guide the Springfield bench for that game.

Konowalchuk joins Cam Abbott (Chicago Wolves) and (David Bell (Belleville Senators) as in-season coaching dismissals this season. Abbott has since moved to the SHL to take over behind the bench for Färjestad BK.

Springfield, last in the Atlantic Division and third-to-last in the entire AHL, has a 13-18-4-2 record. The Thunderbirds have lost six of their past seven games, including back-to-back 8-2 defeats last week at Charlotte. Konowalchuk had survived a 2-10-1-1 start before leading the Thunderbirds on a 10-2-3-1 run that put them back into contention. With four consecutive losses, the team is three points below the Atlantic Division playoff line.

St. Louis had appointed Konowalchuk as Springfield’s head coach in May 2024. He had eight seasons as a WHL head coach and one campaign as an Anaheim Ducks assistant coach, but Springfield was his first AHL head-coaching post. The Thunderbirds missed the Calder Cup Playoffs last season, and Konowalchuk concluded his Springfield tenure with a 47-50-4-8 record.

Ott, 42, has spent parts of nine seasons as a St. Louis assistant coach following an NHL career in which he played 848 games. He was a part of then-head coach Craig Berube’s coaching staff for the Blues’ 2019 Stanley Cup championship.

The Thunderbirds have allowed 3.68 goals per game this season, tying them with Belleville for last place in the AHL. They also have managed just 2.65 goals per game, 26th in the league. However, their power play is 13th overall, and they have the league’s fourth-best penalty kill. Goaltenders Georgi Romanov and Vadim Zherenko both have save percentages below .900, and the team’s collective save percentage is .887.

Monday’s game starts a five-game homestand for the Thunderbirds. After facing the Toronto Marlies on Friday night, Belleville visits Springfield this Saturday night. The homestand will take the Thunderbirds into a crucial six-game road trip in February.

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