The St. Louis Blues might not have picked up newly-minted Toronto Leafs coach Mike Babcock, but they got the second-best thing: a one-year contract for Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock.
The official Blues NHL site reported Tuesday that Hitchcock would return as St. Louis’ head coach for one year. Hitchcock is one of the winningest coaches in hockey and has taken the Blues to the postseason four straight years in a row. He has a .671 points percentage and under him the Blues posted the best NHL regular-season record of 175-29-27.
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Despite this encouraging statistic, however, they have won only one playoff series under him. Hitchcock’s regular-season success with St. Louis has not yet translated to any real postseason success. A frequent complaint about Hitchcock’s system is that it is built for the regular season and doesn’t take the postseason into account, leaving too little in the tank for players to make it through multiple series.
That certainly appeared to be the case this season when St. Louis tore through the central division all the way up through March, but played November hockey in April, leading to four embarrassing games against the Minnesota Wild that they deserved to drop.
Hitchcock’s hit-em-hard system hits his players hard as well. This started to be evident this year during the last half of the season when the Blues began to simply extend their warmups into the first period, not scoring for enough games in a row that the number rose into the double digits. It was alarming for those who watched the Blues regularly and bode ill for the stamina St. Louis needed to make it out of the first round of the playoffs.
As such, this one-year deal may be the best thing for St. Louis. Not only does it put pressure on Hitchcock to perform and retool his system just enough to keep his players energetic enough to bring their best selves during the postseason, but it gives GM Doug Armstrong an instant out should the Blues repeat what we saw out of them this season. And, frankly, it may be the best-case scenario for Hitchcock as well.
As The Hockey News’ Ken Campbell wrote yesterday, Hitchcock may actually have been looking for a one-year deal. After all, this is his third contract of this length with the Blues.
"Hitchcock is the kind of coach who believes that long-term contracts, while good for job security and finances, are not the best thing, especially for older coaches. The thinking goes that an older coach with long-term security can more easily lose his edge, begin to neglect his attention to detail, and basically get complacent. And if you’re going to coach the way Hitchcock does and keep your players on the edge, it’s only fair that you coach from the same vantage point. Hitchcock probably also knows that if he does get fired and goes on the market, it won’t be long before a team looking for help behind the bench comes calling. So for him, not having long-term security is not a big deal."
Armstrong’s decision to talk with Babcock sends a strong message to Hitchcock that he’s interested in the best, and that Hitchcock’s job rides on getting results. Regular-season success won’t suffice at this point. If Hitchcock doesn’t bring the Blues to the Western Conference Finals next season, he’ll most likely be headed out the door.