St. Louis Blues: It Was Past Time To Yeo, I Mean Go

The St. Louis Blues did the almost unthinkable, even if it was what needed to happen, following a loss to the L.A. Kings. They relieved Mike Yeo of his duties.

Well, it is over people. It was a short stint filled with big highs but way too many lows. The St. Louis Blues have officially relieved Mike Yeo of his head coaching position with the team.

Just to get the news part out of the way, Yeo is out and assistant coach Craig Berube will take over on an interim basis. How long that interim tag stays there is anyone’s guess, but he’s as good a choice as anyone on the team since he has NHL head coaching experience.

I know I am in the minority, but I have mixed emotions about this. I was to the point where I wanted Yeo out, but I feel bad for the guy. I have no doubts he tried to win and wanted the very best for this team. For a variety of reasons, it just was not working.

While the guy is not completely devoid of talents, maybe Yeo is better suited to an assistant role. He did help out with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Stanley Cup run, after all.

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There was just too much inconsistency with this current team and too much consistency in what was wrong in both stints behind the bench for Yeo. His teams lacked a certain drive each and every game and he always seemed unprepared in key moments.

I feel Yeo’s biggest weakness was his inability to focus on more than one thing. He wanted to have a good defensive team and achieved that for much of 2017-18. However, his team lacked any real ability to score and the power play was simply atrocious.

So, with that in mind, the Blues went out and got some offensive guns. The power play immediately improved and was, at least at one point, in the top three in the NHL. Unfortunately, the defense went in the toilet and the five-on-five play has deteriorated.

Of course, just like not all of the problems were on Ken Hitchcock, not all of the issues were on Yeo. The players have to shoulder plenty of blame for this early season collapse. Whether it is the weight of expectation or lack of belief in the system – assuming there is a system – the bottom line is the job was not getting done.

That, unfortunately, will be Yeo’s epitaph. Whether in Minnesota or St. Louis, he was never a terrible coach. He simply was not getting it done.

Outside of the beginning of 2018-19, his special teams units regularly finished in the middle of the pack or lower. His teams had offensive weapons, but they never lived up to their potential.

On top of that, Yeo was a bright mind with no direction. I honestly believe he knew what his teams needed to do, as he mentioned the right things so many times in press conferences. For some reason, he just lacked the ability to get the players to actually do those things.

That is what a good coach does. I know a lot about hockey and what guys should or should not be doing, in hindsight anyway. But there is no way I should ever be behind a bench because I could not tell them how to do it. Maybe Yeo lacked that as well.

I hate to see any man, or woman for that matter, lose their job. It is one of the most painful things you can go through outside of real tragedy.

But this Blues team was just going too far south. Yeo’s winning percentage was being propped up by a fantastic finish to 2016-17. After that, his teams were basically hovering around .500.

Of course, all the focus will swing to whether the Blues are in contact with Joel Quenneville or not. They need to be, but whether he wants to coach again this year or wait until the offseason is a huge factor.

For now, this team needs to look itself in the mirror. There are players on this team that have been a big reason that at least three coaches have lost their jobs. They can say it is all on them, but they need to actually believe it for it to have any impact. Maybe they wanted him out or maybe they will finally realize they are not getting it done too.

Whatever the case may be, it has to change. For all the grief fans have given him, Doug Armstrong has done the right things even if not in the timeframe we would want. He added the offense this team needed. He’s made good draft choices, given the position he had in each draft. Now, he’s had to pull the plug on two coaches that he hand picked in quick succession.

The pressure is now on the team. The excuses are gone. Go out there and be a professional and play with some emotion for crying out loud.

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Q or not, this team has to do it themselves. Hopefully this will be the start of a happier chapter. It could not have been much more lackluster of late.

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