The St. Louis Blues Fired Ken Hitchcock, Are Managed About As Well As Your Local Applebee's

Jordie2/01/2017 4:25 PM

So let’s just give ourselves a little refresher and run back everything the St. Louis Blues have done since losing to the Sharks in the Western Conference Final last season. 1) They signed Ken Hitchcock to a 1-year extension. 2) They hired Mike Yeo as an assistant coach, effectively to takeover for Hitch after this season ended. 3) They let their captain David Backes walk at free agency. 4) They bring in Carter Hutton to serve as Jake Allen’s backup after Brian Elliott went to Calgary. 5) They traded for Nail Yakupov. And while they didn’t give up much in that trade, Yakupov has 3 goals and 3 assists in 29 games so far this season. And 6) They just fired Ken Hitchcock.

So if you want the SparkNotes version of that… the St. Louis Blues got rid of their captain, did nothing to improve their goaltending situation but rather made it worse, hired a guy to replace the head coach while he was still currently running the team, gave him an underperforming former #1 overall bust to work with and then fired Ken Hitchcock because he couldn’t create the greatest team ever assembled out of the piles and piles of shit the organization threw at him. Think of it this way; the St. Louis Blues were asking Ken Hitchcock to make a filet mignon but the only ingredients they gave him were a bottle of ketchup and a handful of Good & Plenty. While at the same time they hired another chef who was breathing right down his neck waiting to take over in the kitchen.

And they knew that Mike Yeo would be taking over next season any way so it’s not like they are firing Hitchcock now because they want to get a jump on the coaching search for next year. Now I’m assuming that Hitch still gets paid for the rest of the season so it’s really no sweat off his back. He already had a foot out of the door to begin with and now maybe this opens some more options for him. Maybe getting fired now means that he can get that gig with the Vegas team. Maybe this is a mercy firing by the St. Louis Blues. But as for right now, it makes zero sense to fire a guy who you already have a replacement lined up for next season. Especially if it’s just to try to spark the team back to life while they desperately try to hold on to a playoff spot.