St. Louis Blues: Mike Yeo's Second Year Hugely Important

The St. Louis Blues have a mixed history with coaches, some having long tenures and some not. Mike Yeo has to get results if he wants to continue to lead this team.

Each individual fan of the St. Louis Blues has a vastly different opinion of Mike Yeo. They honestly range from thinking he is a good coach with bad injury luck to thinking he is the worst thing to ever invade the NHL.

The only opinion missing seems to be anyone that thinks he is an elite coach. He might not have much time to change anyone’s feelings about that. While no edict has come down from ownership or management, history is not behind Yeo lasting past this season if he has a mediocre year.

Forget about all the summer additions and money spent, the Blues simply do not have a long history of coaches lasting. In fact, guys like Ken Hitchcock and Joel Quenneville, both of whom lasted six seasons or longer, are the exception, not the rule.

The average time a coach spends with the Note over the last 20-30 years is around 2.5 years (that’s not statistical math, but an eyeball guesstimate).

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Looking back, time was not on many bench bosses’ side. Davis Payne was with the Blues for parts of three seasons, but the game totals add up to about a year and a half. Andy Murray got the most time, seeing two full seasons behind the bench and half of two other years.

Mike Kitchen got the shortest end of the stick since he had the least amount of talent to work with. He saw a full season and then maybe a quarter of a season on two other years.

Even Mike Keenan, for all the memories he made in a relatively short time, only got two and a half years. In terms of total game, he did not even get that much since his first year with the Blues was the lockout shortened year.

Red Berenson only coached for two seasons. Al Arbour only coached parts of three years, not totaling two full years. Even the Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman was only with the Blues for two and a half seasons.

The bottom line is that Yeo’s clock is ticking. He is entering his second full season and third year, overall. Doug Armstrong fully supports Yeo, but Armstrong knows his own clock has an alarm fast approaching.

Armstrong went all-in during the summer of 2018 because it was the right thing to do for the team itself. However, it cannot be denied that he has his own job safety in the back of his mind.

Fans are normally laid back, in the overall sense. Give them a few weeks after missing a playoff and they’ll calm down. It was not really the case this season. Until July 1, when all the moves happened, there were still plenty of people seething about not making the postseason only two seasons removed from playing in the Western Conference Finals.

Armstrong will make a coaching change if necessary if it might keep him around longer. Or the team could make wholesale changes if a strong squad like they’ve assembled falters.

Also, working against Yeo is the stunning regression during his first full year. The Blues showed some spark and energy after Yeo took over for Hitchcock.

Normally that spark does not peter out for awhile. For this Blues squad, the honeymoon was over after the first month of the season. While it cannot be denied that injuries played a huge role in the Blues shortcomings in 2017-18, Yeo’s woeful powerplay and sudden lack of ability to get through to players was in stark contrast to how things went at the end of 2016-17.

Those sharp turns can mean quick ends for coaches if they don’t get the ship righted quickly.

Yeo will get the entire season in 2018-19 to show what he can do with this team. Barring some sort of catastrophic start, there is no reason to think he would be removed during the year.

However, there are no guarantees that he would still be with the team in 2019-20 if they fail to reach the playoffs again. Sports are a fickle business and time waits for no man.

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Armstrong has given Yeo a competitive squad. Now, it’s up to Yeo to get the job done with the players at hand. His job literally depends on it. History is not on his side should he fail, but as fans we should hope he gets it done simply because it means the team will have gotten it done.

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St. Louis Blues: Mike Yeo’s Second Year Hugely Important

By Todd Panula | Jul 17, 2018

The St. Louis Blues have a mixed history with coaches, some having long tenures and some not. Mike Yeo has to get results if he wants to continue to lead this team.