St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong says the search for a permanent head coach is 'down to one', a strong indication that the interim tag attached to current coach Craig Berube would be removed.

"When we asked Craig to take over the team, we were in flux at that point," Armstrong said at a news conference on Friday. "I said to Craig: 'You take over on the interim basis and we'll go from there."

Berube took over as interim coach when Mike Yeo was dismissed on Nov. 20. At the time, the Blues had the second-worst record in the NHL at 7-9-3. The team quickly turned it around under Berube's watch and are one of four teams left standing in the quest for the 2019 Stanley Cup.

"We were gonna support Craig and we were looking outside at potential candidates, whether it be major junior, Europe, the NHL, the American Hockey League. And as I started to work with Craig, whatever name was on the (candidate) list started to get crossed off and crossed off, "Armstrong said of the search. "Then I found the synergy that Craig and I have had. Now we're at a list of one."