Captain David Backes’ Future Rides On Hitchcock’s Success

In a move that will surprise absolutely no one, St. Louis Blues captain David Backes spoke today in praise — well, maybe just support — of the renewal of his head coach’s contract with the Blues. Hitchcock and the Blues signed a one-year contract that was made public Tuesday morning.

Per the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Backes said, “I’ve got no issues with him. Does he ride guys hard and has he been on my case at times, where it’s made me angry? Yes. But he does it in the light of trying to make our team better, trying to make each individual player better.”

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Hitchcock’s system is often in contention, with players occasionally feeling “overwhelmed” with “too much information,” as first-line winger T.J. Oshie and former defenseman Ian Cole (now of the Pittsburgh Penguins) expressed in interviews over the season. It asks a lot of players, garnering results during the regular season, but a second-round exit in the first year of Hitchcock’s tenure and first-round exits in the three succeeding years. At some point, something has to give.

Backes spoke about those interview comments for Jeremy Rutherford’s article with the Post-Dispatch.

“I think if you get caught up in those individual moments at the time you’re under the gun, having an interview, those comments come out,” Backes said. “But when you take a step back and you realize, ‘Oh that’s why he was all over me because I was not being as productive as I could be,’ he’s very effective.”

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A smart, diplomatic choice on Backes’ behalf. Whether he’s happy or not that Hitchcock is back, there’s no reason to ruin a working relationship, especially when Hitchcock has the upper hand when it comes to who plays on a nightly basis. And we all know Backes isn’t exactly cut out to be a 1C, so any diplomacy will go a long way towards maintaining his spot on the team.

More than that, as Blues captain, Backes is obligated to set the tone for the team when it comes to player-coach interactions. At this point, the choice of coach is out of their hands but not necessarily solid; if Hitchcock’s team gets off to a slow start then he will most likely be fired before January in an attempt by the front office to salvage the season.

“It’s a disappointing end early in the playoffs and for the management and the ownership not to pursue all options — whether a job was offered or they wanted to talk and see if there’s a different fit there with a different coach — I think they’d be amiss not doing their due diligence,” Backes said to the Post-Dispatch. “That being said, it’s a business. In the end, they came back and they said that Hitch is their guy and he’s got a one-year deal to prove that he can get a job done.”

Backes will become a UFA at the end of next season. The 31-year-old may find himself in a position similar to Hitchcock was these past few months if the team he captained for the past four years never made it past a second-round playoff berth. His current contract is worth a total of $22.5 million, which may seem like a nice chunk of change but is nothing compared to captain’s salaries that are being contracted now. If Backes isn’t sacrificed to the god of change over the summer to keep fans pacified, he may find himself looking at a significantly smaller contract than he would like come next July.

That is to say, Hitchcock’s future in the NHL isn’t the only one riding on how this upcoming postseason turns out.

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