5 Reasons St. Louis Blues Should Hire Joel Quenneville; 1 They Won’t

Mike Yeo Not Getting It Done

For those that only look at the surface numbers, it is hard to say Mike Yeo has been a failure. In parts of three seasons, he has an overall record of 72-46-11 (as of writing this article). That is a .601 winning percentage, which is a number anyone should strive for.

The issue becomes when you delve deeper. Yeo’s record is being propped up by a great finish from a team that wanted their old coach, Ken Hitchcock, out and a record start to Yeo’s first full season. Outside of that, it has been a very big disappointment.

After a record-breaking October in 2017, the Blues had a mediocre November and a bad December. Then, in 2018, they basically played .500 hockey in both the end of the 2017-18 season and to start the 2018-19 season (6-6-3 as of writing).

So, while .601 looks great, it is being propped up by that .719 win percentage he saw to end 2016-17. Outside of that, he has basically coached around .500 hockey. That is not good enough, especially when the talent is there to get things done. Maybe, perhaps likely, this current team is not built to win a Stanley Cup, but their coach is not making them better.

His style, or lack thereof, is also a problem. When the Blues hired him, his biggest knock was that viral video that showed him going ballistic on his players in practice.

However, we have gotten the opposite. Yeo appears too soft, unwilling to actually challenge his players to strive for more. He even stated in a postgame press conference once that you cannot force players to do something they are unwilling to do when asked why there was not more forecheck and net-front presence.

I’m sorry, but I thought that is exactly what a coach is supposed to do. thought they were paid to push guys past their own limits to get the best from them. Perhaps it was misinterpreted or just a comment born of frustration after a loss, but it never sat well with me.

Nobody knows how Quenneville would mesh with this group or whether a more authoritarian coach would work so soon after getting rid of one. What we do know is that there are enough examples of this current group not playing the way that Yeo wants anyway, so a change is not out of order.