Mike Yeo - Blues future head coach.

[Oaklandblue]

Hahaha I love the salt. This truly is a miserable bunch.

This is a miserable hire after allowing coaches to leave due to one-year contract instability. Who the hell signs a coach for ONE season then hires a coach to take over for a few years after without retaining coaches? Mueller's leaving alone speaks volumes on which direction this team is going.

Either Stillman is dumb or blind to not realize what this team needs to take the next step; all he is doing is spending money and blindly following whatever Army says. Spent to the cap and hiring garbage. Nothing Yeo has ever done is deserving of a multi-year contract or a hiring from us; we need to get AWAY from the Hitch strategy, not embrace a dollar store version of it.

This team flukes it's way to the WCF and everyone thinks they're amazing. They're not. There is work to be done both by revising strategy, strengthing the depth and building upon a fluke. There is absolutely nothing here that makes me hopeful for the future, it's just a rehash of the past all over again. Talent with different names in a different age. And those of you who can't see that, I don't know what to tell you, but do count me out.

[dmiles2186]

Hahaha I love the salt. This truly is a miserable bunch.

[ecbm]

Hahaha I love the salt. This truly is a miserable bunch.

OK, it's Blues fans here. So yeah, a miserable bunch.

But I have to say that unlike a lot of things this franchise has done that I don't agree with, the sting here isn't wearing off. Because...

Either Stillman is dumb or blind to not realize what this team needs to take the next step; all he is doing is spending money and blindly following whatever Army says.

This exactly. I'm beyond not caring for Hitchcock and Armstrong at this point. I'm starting to feel like the St. Louis Blues have become the Hitchcock & Armstrong Hockey Club. Why did we give this guy a 4-year deal? I dare say it's related to the consistent chatter about statured assistants not wanting to take a 1-year deal in StL. So consider: the Blues have tied their hands by preemptively naming a Hitchcock clone as the next coach because...they had to make him that offer or they couldn't get him as an assistant because...Hitchcock was allowed to dictate terms for a second consecutive year and-of course-his boy Armstrong won't say 'boo' to him. If some other coach tears it up and turns heads this season or if Yeo turns out to be a total headcase, or doesn't work well with the squad, or doesn't get along with upper management-the Blues can't act on any of that without breaking a contract that, again, they only had to make to accommodate Hitchcock's desire for one last hurrah.

Are any decisions at the club being taken with the question "what's best for the club" in mind? It doesn't much look like it. It looks like most decisions are based on "what do Armstrong and Hitchcock want"? I'm guessing the results of that will be the same as they've been for the last half decade.

[WaukeeBlues]

Absolutely agreed we need a new GM.

All the common denominator problems originate from Army quite honestly. It's not Hitchcock's fault he got a job and a good offer and keeps getting re-signed. Heck, more power to him. But it is clear Armstrong runs the show. He's the poster child of making business decisions with your heart and not your damn head. On the ice he's made some good moves but also more bad ones.

That Ott contract will bother me forever but alas it should be gone thankfully. Berglund to a lesser extent but still pissed me off. But his decisions for behind the bench have been even worse.

I absolutely feel like Army is one of those guys where if he doesn't like you he'd dump you in a heartbeat even it's bad for the Blues as a team for him to do so.

[Oaklandblue]

Absolutely agreed we need a new GM.

All the common denominator problems originate from Army quite honestly. It's not Hitchcock's fault he got a job and a good offer and keeps getting re-signed. Heck, more power to him. But it is clear Armstrong runs the show. He's the poster child of making business decisions with your heart and not your damn head. On the ice he's made some good moves but also more bad ones.

That Ott contract will bother me forever but alas it should be gone thankfully. Berglund to a lesser extent but still pissed me off. But his decisions for behind the bench have been even worse.

I absolutely feel like Army is one of those guys where if he doesn't like you he'd dump you in a heartbeat even it's bad for the Blues as a team for him to do so.

Obviously, Brian Elliott is one of those people

[glen a richter]

Normally, when a team changes coaches, it's a 180. If the defensive minded coach wasn't working, let's try a coach who can promote a solid offense. Case in point? John Tortorella fired by the Rangers, Alain Vigneault hired by the Rangers.

What this hire is saying to me is this: If Hitch wanted to stay, he could stay as long as he wants because Armstrong will do whatever Hitch wants. In the absence of Hitch, he wanted to replace him with a Hitch clone to keep him happy. I think ol' Kenny had more to do with this decision than Armstrong. Army went to him, asked "well, who would you like to replace you?" and he told him straight up that he wanted Yeo.

Retrospectively, the worst thing that happened to this team may well have been the playoff run. No one was winning the Cup this year other than the Penguins or the Capitals. I said that around the trade deadline. This year was a lost cause to the east. We'd have been better off missing the playoffs entirely, which may have lit a fire under Stillman to make the proper decision. The "almost success", a mirage in a season they realistically had zero chance, may have actually set the team back, long term, worse than the aftermath of the Mike Keenan area.

[dmiles2186]

Doug Armstrong is so terrible. Under his regime, the Blues have drafted Tarasenko, Schwartz, Parayko, Fabbri, Jake Allen. They signed Brian Elliott on a 2 way deal and have had him on cheap contracts ever since while getting the best value out of a goalie in the NHL over that time. Under Armstrong, he got Petro and Tarasenko re-signed for a long term. The Brouwer deal turned out to be a master stroke in how it worked out.

Was the Ott contract bad? Yes. Same for the Berglund and Lehtera contracts, mostly. The Ryan Miller trade bad? Yes. His handling of the coaching staff? Definitely questionable.

But Armstrong's roster construction has led the Blues to be one of the best teams in the NHL during the regular season over the last 4 seasons. The playoff results have been awful up until this year. But this year the Blues get 2 games away from the SCF and that still doesn't satisfy anyone. Look, I want a Cup like the next person, but it's better that than another first round exit.

I'm not saying you can't be upset with Army. But I also want to give him some credit too. Not only has the team made the playoffs, but they've been a contender going in. In a salary cap era, that isn't easy to do. Look at the Kings...they won a Cup and then missed the playoffs the next year. The Sharks missed the playoffs last year and made the SCF this year. The Blues have been consistent and there should be some praise for that. Obviously the ultimate goal hasn't been achieved, nor has the team even reached the final round with all of this regular season success. Criticism definitely deserved in that area.

But I look at train wrecks across the league: Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Carolina, Jersey, Colorado, Vancouver...I'd much rather be where we have been the last 5 seasons compared to the pit that those teams are mired in.

[theohall]

Armstrong is doing very well in terms of player personnel. He is failing miserably in coaching decisions, likely because Hitchcock is the one making the decisions and Armstrong is giving Hitchcock what he wants.

Bottom line, coaches under contract can still be fired. They just have to pay out whatever is guaranteed. So if the Blues don't do well next season and regress, they can still fire Yeo, they just have to pay for it and that would be on Armstrong for allowing that contract.

I'm still of the opinion they should have looked for someone who hadn't previously been an NHL head coach.

[cardsfan04]

I'm kinda in wait and see mode, but rather nonplussed over this. If we're hiring a coach a year in advance, I'm surprised Yeo is who we landed on.

I don't see this as having to teach an old dog new tricks though. He's 42. He's not an old dog. Not saying this will happen, but there are quite a few coaches that got head coaching gigs at a young age, failed, then were great in their second go round.

I'm not excited by this, but I'm going to give him a fair chance before jumping ship. Unfortunately that means waiting nearly 2 years for this first playoffs to complete before having a stronger opinion.

[theohall]

I'm reading all these articles about the Blues new coaches. Too many of the new coaches are "ta-da" former Wild coaches. If it didn't work for the Wild with that crew of people, why will it magically work for the Blues with that same group of coaches post Hitchcock?

Hoping things will get better with Yeo, but hiring essentially all of his ex-Wild assistants to work with the Blues at both levels - puh-lease.

NOT!! this season or next or next... until fresh, non-retread coaching blood is given a damn chance - and not just over a season and a 1/2 of a chance.

While Berube and Thomas are the two "non-Wild" hires, there isn't much information on their ability as coaches. Berube got jerked around with the stuff happening in Philly while Thomas was essentially a developmental coach. Hopefully, their inputs will matter more than the "future head coach" and his Ex-Wild buddies, but I doubt it given Hitchcock's and Yeo's defensive mindset along with Wilson being Hitch's Dallas assistant for so long.

Welcome back to clutch and grab and likely the most penalized team in the league during the speed and talent era. Sure, shots on goal will be way down, but it won't win in the playoffs. Hope to hell I am wrong.

[glen a richter]

Berube was a great hire because the Wolves suck and our prospects weren't getting proper development. Let's see now if Barbashev prospers and Schmaltz doesn't go minus minus million.

[theohall]

bump...

The OP is still true about Yeo. Hasn't learned one darn thing.

How many goals has Tarasekno scored in how many games under #YeoMustGo?

The G/Gm rate keeps going lower and lower.

And that's just one thing.