St. Louis Blues and Head Coach Ken Hitchcock Agree to One Year Extension

The St. Louis Blues and head coach, Ken Hitchcock agreed to a one-year contract extension for the 2016-2017 National Hockey League season on Tuesday. 

Hitchcock, who is expected to be making next season his final one behind an NHL bench said on Tuesday, “I just feel I have got this really good year in me. This season invigorated me like no season before.” Hitchcock also added, that he knew about two days before the end of the Blues season, that next season would be his final one. 

The Blues reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2001, before falling to the San Jose Sharks in six games. 2016 was the first time the Blues won a playoff round, since they reached the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, four years ago. 

Hitchcock pretty much knew two days after the completion of the Blues season, that the next season would be his final one. He said, “We have a 12-month clock, as coaches. A fanatical clock that we run on, and the 12-month clock is the clock in the offseason. And the clock in the offseason, is the stuff that I start doing in July, and I am gunned up and ready to do the stuff I need to do in July and August this year, to get ready for next season.”

As the playoff run inspired him to comeback for one last hurrah, he still felt that the fact he is not willing to put in that offseason effort anymore is the reason next year will be his last. He said, “You have to sign up a year in advance, and the stuff that I do to get better and stay current, which quite frankly helped us this year in some areas, those things have been on my desk for two months and I am not willing to sign them. If you are not willing to sign them, it means you are ready to flat-line and you are going to go backwards.”

He also added, “I thought the playoffs, getting through it, I would take a look at it again, and I am not willing to do it, so I am done. So to me, I am ready to go for next year, I am excited. This is an unbelievable group of guys with a lot of potential, and I am ready to do it, but if I am not going to get better myself during the offseason, then I am doing a disservice to the hockey club, and I am not going to do it.” 

Hitchcock, who turns 65 in December, is 224-103-36 in 363 regular season games with the Blues, second behind Joel Quenneville. His .667 winning percentage is the best in St. Louis Blues history. Under Hitchcock, the Blues went 20-27 in the postseason, including a 10-10 this past season. 

Blues general manager, Doug Armstrong said, “Ken did a fabulous job, in my opinion, throughout the regular season and throughout the playoffs. Since the day he has walked through the door, we have won two out of every three games, we have played. Just digest that for a second. We win two out of every three games we play, that is an incredible winning percentage.”

 

Armstrong added, “We have stubbed our toe, more than we want to admit in the playoffs. This year we did not stub our toe. This year we knocked off the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Chicago Blackhawks and we knocked off the best team in the Western Conference, the Dallas Stars. We did not get our ultimate goal, but that showed me there is enough left in the tank for Ken, if he had enough left in the tank.”

 

In 19 seasons and 1,404 games, behind the bench in the NHL, with the Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Stars, and Blues, Hitchcock holds a 757-453-106 record with 88 ties. He is 26 victories to pass Al Arbour for third place on the NHL all-time list. Scotty Bowman is sitting in first with 1,244 victories and Quenneville in second with 801. 

Hitchcock led the Stars to a Stanley Cup victory in 1999 over the Buffalo Sabres, while making a return trip the following season, falling to the New Jersey Devils in the 2000 Stanley Cup Final. The 2012 Jack Adams Award winner, also has three Olympic gold medals as an assistant coach of Team Canada in 2002, 2010 and 2014. 

Armstrong offered one-year contracts to the entire coaching staff, but associate coach, Brad Shaw will not return as he wished to pursue other options. Which leaves former Devils captain, Kirk Muller, who played for Hitchcock in Dallas as the leading option to take over the reigns after next season when Hitchcock retires. Muller has head coaching experience, from his time behind the Carolina Hurricanes bench between 2011 and 2014. 

Armstrong added, “I would say Muller stands out as someone that has been a head coach, I know him really well. He has been very good for our group here. Brad Shaw is not coming back. That one is easy, and I think assistant coach Ray Bennett and I have had a good conversation. I think Ray is in a good spot in the support that he can give a head coach right now. I would say Muller is a name I want to talk to. There is a lot of things that he and I would have to hash through before he and I would get to that point.”

He also said, “If for whatever reason, Muller would like to explore other things, that opens up my avenue to a whole host of things that I can explore.” 

Hitchcock would not address what he would do once his coaching career is finished saying, “I do not know if I am going to retire. I might move over to the media.” He then jokingly replied, “Oh God, no.”

While Hitchcock was excited to be able to commit to one final year, he added that he did not want any part of a farewell tour.