St. Louis Blues Sticking with Ken Hitchcock
Looks like Ken Hitchcock is staying put (for the time being). After much speculation about Hitchcock’s position as head coach of the St. Louis Blues, he and the organization agreed to a one-year deal.
“Hitchcock was named Blues coach on Nov. 7, 2011, replacing Davis Payne. He has a 175-79-27 record in the regular season, giving him 708 career wins, fourth on the NHL’s all-time list.”—NHL.com
Under his leadership, the Blues made four straight postseason appearances, recorded three 100-point regular season campaigns and won two Central Division championships. Hitchcock also helped the team establish the third-best regular season record in franchise history (51-24-7, 109 pts) in 2014-15.
So why was his status as head coach in question? Because of his team’s lack of success in the postseason. In Hitchcock’s first year as head coach the team made it to the second round before being knocked out by the Los Angeles Kings. The next three years, the Blues failed to make it past the first round of the postseason.
With a stacked team and a decent goaltending tandem of Brian Elliott and Jake Allen, the Blues have the pieces to be a Cup contender. But things just don’t work out in their favor.
The Blues did shop for a new coach. It is reported that the team asked the Detroit Red Wings to speak with Mike Babcock. But we all know what happened there. Sorry to bring that up Buffalo fans. I guess the brass felt it was better to give Hitchcock one more year than hire one of the coaches that are currently unemployed.
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Bleedin' Blue
I believe this contract is the final straw. If the Blues make another early exit next year then Hitchcock will have to take his coaching abilities elsewhere. The pressure is on. Can he finally help the team make a deep playoff run? Who even knows if he will make it the entire season. If the Blues have a bad start or hit a couple of bumps in the road, the team’s management may decide to part ways.
What is interesting, and many media outlets have covered this topic including the Toronto Sun, is that everyone wanted to hire Babcock and fire Hitchcock, but their successes and failures aren’t that different.
In three of his four seasons in St. Louis, Hitchcock’s teams scored more goals, allowed fewer goals against, won more games than Babcock’s Red Wings managed. In four years, Hitchcock’s teams won 185 games — including playoffs — while Babcock’s teams won 166 games.— Toronto Sun
Well isn’t that a juicy tidbit. It was also pointed out that during Hitchcock’s time in St. Louis his team has won 10 of 27 postseason games, while Babcock’s team played 31 playoff games in the same period and won 12 of them. Yet, Hitchcock’s job was on the line (before he signed a new deal today), and every team with a coaching vacancy was scrambling to scrounge up enough cash to lure Babcock away from Detroit.
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This just goes to show you that sometimes people see a name that is synonymous with winning and greatness and forget that they haven’t done anything remarkable lately (expect for an Olympic gold medal).
Clearly, Hitchcock knows how to coach; it was proven in the team’s record during the regular season. It’s just that maybe his team doesn’t elevate its game in the postseason as others try and do.
Really, you can’t just blame the coach. Hitchcock is not the one lacing up his skates and throwing down hits. He can only do so much before he leaves the rest to the players. Maybe he has to be tougher. Maybe he has to be nicer. I really don’t know what needs to change but I do know something does.
All in all, Hitchcock will have his work cut out for him this season. Not in the sense that he will have to mold his team or develop young players—no, that’s already done. What he will have to do is find the reason behind their lack of postseason success and find a way to correct it. Otherwise, Hitchcock will be out on the streets.
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