Blues fire coach Ken Hitchcock, promote Mike Yeo

Coach Ken Hitchcock has had a memorable career and a forgettable month of the January.

The latter fact is at the heart of the St. Louis Blues’ decision to fire him and replace him with associate coach Mike Yeo Wednesday. The decision comes after the Blues lost 5-3 to the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday to fall to 3-7 in their last 10 games.

Yeo was supposed to replace Hitchcock, 64, at the end of the season, but the Blues’ slide in the standings over the past month prompted general manager Doug Armstrong to expedite the transition of power.

The Blues, 5-8 in January, have looked like a team that may have needed to hear a new voice behind the bench

This was his sixth season in St. Louis, and Hitchcock’s relentless coaching style does have a shelf life. His confrontational approach does wear on players, especially when the team isn’t playing well.

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Armstrong  acted with the hope that Yeo, formerly the Minnesota Wild head coach,  will be able to save this season for the Blues. Despite recent struggles and a minus-16 goal differential, the Blues hold the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Yeo’s mission is to clean up the Blues’ defensive play and find a way to get goalie Jake Allen turned around.

he Blues’ problem this season is evident in the fact they rank last in the NHL with an .887 team save percentage. They have given up four or more goals eight times in their past 12 games. Allen, 26, hasn't been the goalie the Blues need him to be.

Yeo will have to decide fairly quickly whether Allen can get the job done because the March 1 trade deadline is less than a month away.

If Yeo and Armstrong conclude that Allen isn’t going to find his game any time soon, the Blues will have to consider trading for a goalie. Backup Carter Hutton hasn’t demonstrated he can carry the load.

The Blues’ team Corsi (51.7%), viewed as an indicator of puck possession, ranks fifth in the NHL and the power play is eighth. If the Blues can keep the puck out of their net they can be a postseason factor.

And we haven’t seen the last of Hitchcock either. Even at 64, he doesn’t seem ready to retire. He lives for coaching. Last season, he did take the Blues to the Western Conference Finals. He has a .606 winning percentage in 1,453 regular-season games.  Still

He will be in the NHL next season. He might the guy brought next in to provide a different voice when some other coach is fired.

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