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They're Back!!!

June 3, 2017, 11:22 PM ET [35 Comments]
Jason Millen
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They’re back. On Friday the Blues capped their retro tour when they announced the official hiring of Barret Jackman as a development coach.

Jackman’s hiring as development coach surprised nobody who has been around the team for the last 10 years. Jackman has always been the consummate professional. Signs of his willingness to lay everything on the line were evident even back to his junior hockey days where he took injections between periods in his shoulder to keep playing in an important game. You never had to worry about Jackman coming to camp out of shape or playing through even the worst injuries.

I had the pleasure of spending a few days with a member of the team a few years ago and one day I asked him what would be the one thing that would surprise most fans. He commented that he knew that Jackman had been catching a lot of flack from the fans but that most of them would shut up if they knew the injuries he was playing through. He made the comment that he played through injuries that he has never seen players play through, and he has been around the game at the NHL for more than 20 years. Another person asked him who the toughest player he has ever seen was. His answer was Jackman because of all that he played through. He said he hadn’t seen anyone more dedicated.

In addition to sharing his preparation, fitness and dedication to the game and team, he also will be able to help teach the defensemen. Like it or not, even when the game was passing him by, he was still teaching Pietrangelo, Cole, and other young Blues defensemen.
His love for the team, the community and the city was always strong and I’m glad he will once again have a contributing role with the team.

Another former Blue was brought back into the fold on May 25th when the Blues hired Steve Ott to be an assistant coach. I must admit that this move surprised me a lot. Given Ott’s roles over the years, I can see him helping in the face-off circle and on the penalty kill but I thought coach Mike Yeo might try and bring a more offensive minded coach in to help balance out his defensive style. I must admit that I am a bit skeptical of this move.

In addition to Ott and Jackman, the Blues have brought in former Blue Darryl Sydor to be an assistant coach. Over the years, there have been rumors surrounding the Blues and Sydor. They finally come to fruition in 2017.

For those of you not familiar with Sydor, he was an assistant under Yeo in Minnesota for five years as well as in the AHL with the Houston Aeros. He ended his playing career with the Blues. As a player, Sydor collected more than 500 points as a defenseman and won two Stanley cups while playing in almost 1,300 games.

As for me, I’m back as well after needing to attend to some personal matters. I hope to post two times a week for the coming months, maybe three.

It’s a great day for hockey.

Fellow Hockeybuzz blogger Minnesota Wild's Dan Wallace agreed to a 1st round, friendly charity wager. Since the Blues won, Dan will be making a donation to Dream Factory St. Louis (http://dreamfactoryincstl.org/). Dream Factory grants dreams to critically and chronically ill children from the ages of three to eighteen. They have one of the highest program expenditure ratios I have ever seen, an amazing 97% is used for actual program services. Usually, more than 3% is used for administrative and fundraising efforts but not at Dream Factory.

With the Predators win, fellow Hockeybuzz blogger Nashville Predator's Paul McCann won our bet and I made a donation to Best Buddies of Tennessee (https://bestbuddies.org/find-programs/tennessee/). Best Buddies works to establish a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and development capabilities.
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