The Blues didn’t wait long to figure out their coaching situation as they will reportedly give Ken Hitchcock a new one-year contract. Hitchcock, who has stated he is comfortable taking short-term contracts, will return to the Blues after a tough third-round playoff exit in 2015-16.
Hitchcock will be back with #stlblues on one-year contract for 2016-17 season, according to league sources. Announcement could come tomorrow
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) May 31, 2016
This announcement will be divisive. Andy McDonald isn’t a fan.
Recently, I held a poll asking Blues fans whether or not Hitchcock should be back with the Blues. After 178 votes (not a huge sample), a total of 61.24% were in favor of Hitchcock returning. That left 38.76% of those who voted as fans who wanted to see a different face as the coach of the Blues.
Hitchcock was able to take the Blues to the third round, but there’s plenty of criticism surrounding his coaching style, his ability to adapt and his message falling on deaf ears. The Blues would deploy a strategy and stick with it, regardless of the outcome. Hitchcock’s strategy was bested by the opposing team and coach countless times during the playoffs and yet the Blues didn’t change and didn’t adapt. Some of that is on the players, but it’s the job of the coach to recognize a strategy has failed and to change things up.
Based on the news of Hitchcock’s return, it sounds like the Blues are slow to adapt too. Maybe there wasn’t an attractive long-term option out there. Maybe the team isn’t confident that an internal option is ready to step up. Regardless, the fact remains that the Blues know what Hitchcock brings to the table and apparently they’re happy with what that means.
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