St. Louis Blues Rumors: Four Coaching Prospects

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If the St. Louis Blues fail to win the first round yet again, we could see Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock bid farewell to the team into which he has sunk four years of his life and professional career, since he was named head coach in November of 2011.

In three seasons under Hitchcock, named one of the most defensibly-responsible coaches in the league, the St. Louis Blues have seen one second-round exit and two first-round exits. His most successful was his first year coaching the Blues when they took first place in the central division and won their first-round matchup against the San José Sharks, only to lose to the L.A. Kings in four.

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Hitchcock won the Jack Adam Award, naming him NHL coach of the year, for his first season on the St. Louis Blues bench. He turned a team around that had missed the postseason in five out of the six previous years and coached them not only to a playoffs berth but to the first place in the central division.

But while the Blues have done significantly better under Hitchcock, they haven’t done Stanley Cup better. For a team that has been described as monstrous in depth and after Vladimir Tarasenko came in second in the league in goals and fourth in points overall, their postseason meltdowns in Games 1 and 3 is a huge disappointment.

That may make all the difference in management’s eyes.

Writers around the hockey blogosphere have brought Hitchcock’s name up time and again when speculating on head coach movement during the postseason, alongside Mike Babcock and Todd McLellan, who, as we found out yesterday, has “mutually agreed to part ways” with the San José Sharks.

Hitchcock hasn’t had an easy go of it this year with his team, who he expressed frustration with when asked by NHL writer Lou Korak about their defensive pinching, which was leading to a number of odd-man rushes for opposing teams. Hitch responded with, “I don’t know. That’s probably a question you should ask in the room because those directions aren’t coming from us.”

There’s been friction on both sides of the relationship, with T.J. Oshie giving us the latest insight into the Blues’ frustration with Hitchcock’s coaching process. This article from Hildymac at St. Louis Blues Game Time notes a nuanced approach from Oshie in March after his attack of the flu, and he reiterated that sentiment later, telling media, “there’s a lot of information going around, guys are getting a little indecisive.”

Former Blues defenseman Ian Cole first talked about the “information overload” in December to Post-Dispatch Blues beat writer, Jeremy Rutherford.

“They’ve said a lot of things that I agree with,” he said, “(and) they’ve said a lot of things that you know … I think that you as a player are told so much that trying to remember every single thing that they’ve said and apply it … sometimes I start to overthink what’s going on in every given little tiny situation because I’ve been told so much. So, I think being able to pick through and take the general points and try to apply those in the smartest way possible is what you’ve got to do.”

That certainly doesn’t speak to a player who understands the role their head coach wants them to play, and Cole’s performance in St. Louis was relatively average.

However, Cole has since found an offensive momentum with his new team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, as Jason Mackey reports for the Pittsburgh Tribune. Cole did not display such momentum under Hitchcock, a defense-first coach. While the Pittsburgh Penguins appear to be experiencing a meltdown like no other, Cole’s improved Corsi and time on ice at least speaks to the system in Pittsburgh working for him.

And that’s the crux of the issue: sometimes minds don’t mesh. Hitchcock may pull a great regular-season performance out of his team but their playoffs experience has been lacking.

If management decides to “mutually part ways” with Hitchcock, who would the Blues turn to to pick up the slack?

Next: First

Feb 20, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan during practice the day before the Stadium Series hockey game at Levis Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Newly Released Todd McLellan

McLellan, whose name I have difficulty spelling, would perhaps be the most attainable coach for the St. Louis Blues next season. While there are a number of coaching spots that could be open next season, only a handful are currently open, and they are in such a precarious state that it would only attract someone who is deeply interested in starting the franchise rebuild and putting in a good five years of sweat and blood before they begin to see real returns.

In case I was too vague for you, I was talking about Toronto there.

If Mike Babcock isn’t staying in Detroit, I’m willing to bet we see him head to Toronto for that combined head coach / GM position that has been tossed around in the media. It seems like exactly the kind of challenge he’d enjoy taking on after spending ten years with the Red Wings and developing a team that is a given to make the playoffs.

McLellan, on the other hand, isn’t leaving a position by choice; he’s been more or less ousted by Sharks GM Doug Wilson and would likely welcome the opportunity to coach a team that has all the building blocks in place for a deep playoff run. He would have been in that position with San José if it weren’t for a case of over-management by the GM, Doug Wilson, and a number of trade mistakes.

Who’s to say he wouldn’t do well on the Blues?

Next: Second

Dec 23, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle yells to his team during the third period against the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center. The Maple Leafs shut out the Stars 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Former Leafs Coach Randy Carlyle

Speaking of Toronto, Randy Carlyle is both available and looking for work as a head coach once again.

Carlyle would be a completely different direction for the defensive St. Louis club. During his time with the Maple Leafs, Toronto focused on being a skating team able to transition quickly and score goals, not necessarily on winning battles in the corners.

While that didn’t work out well for the Leafs, on a team as defensively solid as the Blues it’s hard not to believe that a little offensive momentum wouldn’t go a long way. Especially when you look at the end of the regular season and look at how long it took the forwards to start to move the puck towards towards the offensive zone and put shots on net.

The Winnipeg Free Press writes,

Eventually, management laid the poor defensive performance at Carlyle’s feet. He says he told management the group of players they’d assembled weren’t going to commit to a defence-first style of game. “More than once, to say the least. You know, the biggest issue for us as a coaching staff was getting them to be able to compete and to try and be inside, because that’s what today’s hockey is all about,” said Carlyle. “That was the most difficult and most frustrating part, is that we couldn’t convince them to get inside and compete day in, day out.”

Hard work is not an issue with the St. Louis Blues, especially with a captain like David Backes in the mix. The man is a workhorse; he goes as hard on every shift as he possibly can, and he demands the same of his linemates and defensemen. If motivation is Carlyle’s sole issue, then St. Louis might be the perfect club for him to land in.

Next: Third

Oct 12, 2013; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks head coach John Tortorella addresses the media after the game against the the Montreal Canadiens at Rogers Arena. The Montreal Canadiens won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

Hot-Tempered John Tortorella

Not your first choice to replace Hitch, I’m sure.

I mainly would be interested in seeing Torts behind the Blues bench for the sake of entertainment. He’s highly enjoyable to watch in a press conference, even if I don’t personally like the playing style he coaches his players to use.

Additionally, Tortorella is a defense-first head coach who won the Jack Adams Award in the 2003-04 season while he was with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

On the surface, he’s Ken Hitchcock, but way likelier to blow up on you. (Though, to be fair, Hitchcock brings his own entertainment factor as he is one of the more blunt coaches in press conferences. Animated, no. But blunt, yes.)

If Blues management and ownership still believes in the defense-first approach to a Cup and don’t particularly care about the image they present to the press, Tortorella may be the way to go. Plus, they could probably get him pretty cheaply considering how his last season in the NHL went.

And someone could make some more of these highly entertaining videos.

Next: Fourth

Mar 13, 2014; Raleigh, NC, USA; Buffalo Sabres coach Ted Nolan looks on against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena. The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-2. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Newly Freed Ted Nolan

Ted Nolan is probably my favorite pick for the theoretical position. Why? He’s universally lauded as a good coach, and lost his job because he couldn’t get in line with the tanking philosophy Buffalo’s management was espousing once it became clear that this season wasn’t winnable for them.

Joe Yerdon, NHL correspondent, wrote on the tank in a special for Puck Daddy:

Anyone that’s heard Ted Nolan speak before knows that he would never be the type of coach to go along with just accepting losing. That’s not how he’s wired and he’s too proud of a man to go along with it. That in itself makes you wonder how anxious things got in the final months of the season as the gap narrowed between the Sabres and Coyotes and Nolan rode his hot goalie no matter what whether it was Neuvirth or Lindback.

In short, Nolan knew what the outcome of his coaching his team to any place other than dead last would likely be, as any coach with a brain in their head would be able to figure out. And he went ahead and did it anyways because he couldn’t stand the thought of losing.

That’s the kind of coach I want behind my bench: someone who is so invested in winning that they’ll figure out how to work with their players, regardless of who the team is comprised of or how they best operate.

It’s a good reminder that Hitchcock hasn’t demonstrated the willingness to revamp his way of coaching. At least, not the way Nolan did. When asked about overwhelming players with information and underwhelming them with his clarity, Hitchcock told Timmerman,

“That’s something we’ll talk to the players about, if they think there’s too much information, we’ll adapt,” [Hitchcock] said. “I think sometimes when you’re slow in your head, any information you’re getting is too much information. We’re playing slow. Everything we’re doing is slow. We’re surprised by pressure, we’re surprised by getting checked, we’re getting beat on board battles.

A coach who blames his players’ inability to process their information on them being “slow in [the] head” without re-examining how that information is coming across is not demonstrating that kind of flexibility. And thus far, hasn’t proven to win playoff games consistently.

Nolan’s coaching style would fit pretty well with what St. Louis Blues players and fans have come to expect from the team. Looking back over his first tenure in Buffalo in the 1995-97 seasons, his team PIM leaders crossed 250 minutes every time, and in the 1995-96 season his players occupied three of the top five spots in PIM.

We’re not necessarily looking for a team full of Steve Otts and Ryan Reaveses (we’d rarely score, but we’d leave the other team bloody for sure), but with a captain like David Backes who tries his best not only to lead the team in spirit, but in PIM, Nolan would come in to a room that already leaned towards his way of thinking.

Even if that were not the case, Nolan’s absolute dedication to hockey and good habits might be just what the Blues need after this season.

Nolan values hard work in his players, as we saw in his consistent attempts at player development in Buffalo during his most recent tenure there, and is used to making the best of a bad situation.

Bill Hoppe of the Buffalo Hockey Beat quoted Nolan on the importance he places on work ethic in his teams and in his dressing room.

“When you’re going for certain things, the expectations and what you have to do has to be a certain level, and if you don’t do it, you’re not going to get better, I don’t care who you are,” Nolan said.

Coming in after a season like the Blues have had, where St. Louis went game after game with a goal-less first period, skipping optional skates and generally looking as though they didn’t have the hunger to win that is necessary at an elite level, Nolan’s nose-to-the-grindstone attitude might be exactly what they need to wake up and make a true break for the Stanley Cup.

Next: Blues Players Sending Hitchcock A Message?

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