Monday Matchups has normally been for players, especially those that are going to be free agents. However, given the St. Louis Blues recent coaching situation, we’ll look at that.
Mike Yeo is currently the St. Louis Blues associate coach and is scheduled to become the head coach in a year, when Ken Hitchcock steps down from the position. Kirk Muller was the assistant coach for two seasons under Hitchcock.
Positives for Muller
Muller was in charge of the St. Louis Blues powerplay unit. During Hitchcock’s tenure with the Blues, initially the team was a bit lackluster on the man-advantage. They had a season at just above 16%, then went up to 19% for two seasons.
While the years at 19% were above the league average, it wasn’t by a large margin. When Muller stepped in, the Blues powerplay jumped up to 22.31% in 2014-15 and 21.52% in 2015-16. That was 4 and 3% above the rest of the league respectively.
Muller was also above .500 in two of his three years in charge of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Negatives for Muller
His teams never made the playoffs. Now you do have to take into account the teams that he had, but if people want to hold the coach accountable in St. Louis, you have to do so in other markets as well.
Interestingly enough, his best season in the division was a third place finish and the team finished under .500 in that year. They went 19-25-4. During his 3 seasons with Carolina he finished 80-80-27.
Additionally, his strength with the Blues was not a strength with the Hurricanes. Each season he was there, they had a terrible powerplay.
His teams had a powerplay percentage of just over 14% for two seasons and then bumped up to 16% his final season. Each year, that was under the league average.
Again, a lot of that has to do with talent. The Hurricanes have not improved since his departure so he cannot completely be blamed. However, he was not necessarily part of the solution either.
Positives for Yeo
Yeo only finished under .500 as a head coach once and that was in his initial year. His Minnesota Wild teams made the playoffs three out of the four years he was in charge.
His teams made it out of the first round in two of the three years they made the playoffs. All three years they made the playoffs, they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago went on to the Stanley Cup in two of those three years.
Clearly he knows how to coach and how to win. The Wild were reasonably successful given the talent they had. He also made it to the AHL finals as the head coach of the Houston Aeros. He was part of the head coaching staff under Dan Bylsma that helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win in 2009.
He is also a good coach for the penalty kill. The Wild had the top penalty killing unit in the league in his last full season as well.
Negatives for Yeo
His Minnesota teams were never that great as scoring. They never scored more goals than the league average. Despite making the playoffs, he did not play an overly attractive style.
Attractiveness isn’t always the way to win. However, the year his team defeated the Blues in the playoffs, he was implementing what amounted to a neutral-zone trap. That’s an incredibly boring brand of hockey to watch.
One can argue that he was merely utilizing the most effective strategy given the team he had and it would be hard to argue. On the flip side, there is not really a basis for comparison so we are left to assume that is his preferred style of play.
Despite the relatively good numbers Minnesota put up on the penalty kill, they were mostly around the league average except the year they were tops.
Yeo also has had health concerns. Despite his relative youth, he had to take a short leave of absence due to high blood pressure and light headedness during a game with Pittsburgh. That was as an assistant. Despite the fact that St. Louis is a really low pressure market, there is still pressure to win now with the Blues entering the middle of their best window.
Overview
A lot of the final decision has a lot to do with perception and what you value. On the surface, Muller seems to know more about how to succeed since he won a championship as a player. He also seems to value a more offensive brand of hockey.
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On the surface, Yeo hasn’t exactly wowed anyone with his offensive coaching skills. He coached a very defensive style in Minnesota and seems a step in the wrong direction in that aspect when compared to fan perception of Hitchcock.
Fans have been fairly split on the reception for both Muller leaving and Yeo coming in.  While there hasn’t been any flipping tables and tossing remotes, the reception for Yeo isn’t exactly overwhelming.
On the flip side, great players don’t always make the best of coaches. Muller might go on to great success, but there was no guarantee.
Yeo has been on a good offensive team in Pittsburgh and a poor one in Minnesota. While he is part of the reason Minnesota did not win, he is not the only one. Several fans from Minnesota have said there was a problem with the players and it ended up being a situation where you can’t fire the players, so Yeo was the one to go.
Personally, I would have preferred Muller if those are the only choices. In the end, we are with Yeo and need to hope for the best.
In his press conference, Yeo said he wants to play a speed game when he takes over. While that’s the buzz phrase these days and things said to the press are not always the way it plays out, as fans we can only hope that is actually his strategy.
Next: All Too Early Look At 2016-17 Blues Line Combinations
Yeo has a good mind for the sport, it just depends on how he utilizes it. If he learns from his mistakes as Hitchcock did and learns from the man himself, then he can be successful. As much will depend on the team Doug Armstrong give him as with Yeo himself.
As with everything, time will tell. For the sake of the franchise, let’s hope the decision to give the reigns to Yeo is the right one.
As always, we want to know your opinion. Â Let us know which one you prefer and why in the comments.