St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong and head coach Ken Hitchcock agreed to a one year deal yesterday. This news brings many mixed emotions between fans and others around the league. In the eyes of most of us here in St. Louis and many other fans of the game around North America, this past season seemed to be win or else for Hitchcock. I personally thought he would not be brought back if the Blues did not reach at least the Western Final. After a third consecutive first round disaster, I thought the end was all but announced, even though I felt strongly that this year’s loss should be placed on the players much more so than Hitch. That said, it’s also part of the nature of being a coach, some of the blame is always on you.
My thoughts changed after I watched the end of the year press conference with Armstrong and Hitch. When they both were very adamant that they needed some time to analyze and process what happened, I began to believe Hitch would be back if the Blues couldn’t reach a deal with Mike Babcock. That is if, Armstrong talking to Babcock didn’t burn a bridge with Hitch by making him his “second choice.… I don’t believe that is the case, obviously with the deal becoming official yesterday.
The Blues have flourished in the regular season under Hitchcock with two Central Division titles and two runner up Central finishes. They have been high favorites to make a deep push in the playoffs if not win the Stanley Cup. The problem is that the regular season success hasn’t transferred over to any playoff success and that is unacceptable. My opinion is that there are not too many better coaches to be hired if they let Hitch walk this summer. I would have gladly welcomed Boston bench boss Claude Julien to St. Louis but it looks like he will be staying with the Bruins. Armstrong and Hitchcock must both be on the same page that the playoff defeat this year is the effect of poor performance and execution of the game plan by the players.
This type of mentality, though it may be true, immediately puts not only Hitchcock, but now also Armstrong on the hot seat. By bringing back Hitchcock, Armstrong must now move a key player or a couple to improve the team and the Blue’s needs. Upgrading the speed at the forward position is the most obvious aspect Armstrong has to look to improve. Hitchcock has repeated the same facts and went as far to say that the Blues are going to be faster and more “reckless… next season. Does that mean he is going to let the players play their game much like he does for Vladimir Tarasenko? That remains to be seen, but it would be good for some of the players to be able to create more offense and play at a faster tempo. Jaden Schwartz, Paul Stastny, and Dmitrij Jaskin could all benefit from having a little more freedom on the ice. If this is the case, team defense and goaltending are going to have to play much better than they did for the majority of last season. Changing the style and going for more offense will lead to more odd man rushes and scoring chances going the other way.
It is now clearing up what is going to happen this summer now that we know who will be behind the bench, but it is still as fuzzy as ever. There will be players leaving and new players coming in. It just isn’t known who, besides T.J. Oshie, where, or when. This could be the biggest summer in Doug Armstrong’s career, let’s hope he makes the best of it.