Marty Brodeur signed a new three year contract yesterday as an Assistant General Manager to GM Doug Armstrong. Good for Marty and the Blues. Brodeur has been great for the organization since he came in this past season. He is doing the right thing trying to broaden his knowledge and skill set for life after hockey. This is his chance for him to find out if this is really what he wants to do. Like I said in my previous blog, I would have loved to see him as the next Blues goalie coach. The Blues goaltenders this season were up and down and Corsi has to take a lot of the blame. Playing too deep in the net, cheating towards the backdoor pass, and playing more percentages rather than tracking the puck. This has Corsi painted all over it. Maybe Marty can whisper some of this into Armstrong’s ear and the Blues go a different direction. Anyhow, Congratulations Marty.
With the massive 8 year 50 million dollar deal Mike Babcock got from Toronto yesterday, I feel like a Hitchcock announcement will be coming in the next few days. The Blues were rumored to be very in on Babcock but there were also statements that the Blues never formally asked to speak with him. Doesn’t matter either way now, but my guess would be both Babcock and Armstrong met or talked in Prague during the World Championships. I would think that the Blues are going to bring back Ken Hitchcock. I don’t have many issues with this. One would be that it puts Armstrong’s job in danger. He will HAVE to move a few players if he doesn’t bring back Hitch. Hitchcock has said he wants to be here and the organization knows what they will be getting from him.
There were also rumors that the Blues would be going after Boston head coach Claude Julien. Julien has yet to be let go from Boston so right now that makes no sense unless new GM Don Sweeny fires Julien. It is very possible that could happen but no one knows for sure at the moment. Julien is a very good coach and knows how to use his players. He has some fire behind the bench and a strong passion for winning. If both Hitch and Julien aren’t returning to their respective clubs, I would love to have Julien behind the bench in St. Louis. What do you think Blues fans?
Former North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol was hired this week as the bench boss for the Philadelphia Flyers. He has a very good track record in college and has coached some high end talent such as Jonathan Toews, T.J. Oshie, Drew Stafford, and Brock Nelson. What do you think T.J. Oshie would fetch in a trade with Philly?
Should be a lot of news for the blues in the coming weeks.