Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Sometimes we cannot escape the inevitable. The St. Louis Blues could not commit to moving on from Ken Hitchcock, so they will now go back to the inevitable once again. It seems that making the playoffs is this team’s ceiling, despite having the talent to build a dynasty themselves.
Don’t get me wrong; Hitchcock is still a good coach, but it seems like his message falls flat when it matters most. For three straight seasons, his team was knocked out of the postseason in the first round, going down in Game 6 every time. This is starting to go beyond a coincidence and become a trend.
The Blues could have the best overall roster in the NHL. They have great veterans in Jay Bouwmeester, David Backes and Barrett Jackman. They have an injection of youth coming from Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk. They have superstars up and down this roster. The fact that they can’t get this group to the second round is mind-blowing.
It isn’t like this team sits on the players they have and hopes it works. They got the prize of the offseason last year by signing Paul Statsny to center their second line, and they re-sign their best players to keep the core together. The front office has given Hitchcock everything in order to succeed, but he has yet to do that.
The Blues made the Stanley Cup Finals in their first three years in existence, losing all three times. That was back in 1970. They have not made it that far since. It is going to be 50 years before you know it, and Blues fans deserve better than that. This is why re-signing Hitchcock was a mistake. It has been a long time since he took the Dallas Stars to back-to-back Cup Finals appearances. His message doesn’t seem to last long, as the Blues are his fourth stop in his career.
The Blues may be looking at Bruce Boudreau with the Anaheim Ducks and thinking that could happen to them next season. He was given the moniker that he couldn’t win in the playoffs, but now he is one win away from going to the Finals.
The problem with that thinking is the Ducks are in a different position than the Blues. They have been getting deeper into the playoffs every season, while the Blues have been stagnant. With the amount of good coaches that were on the market this season, the Blues took too long to make a decision on Hitchcock. They were rumored to be one of the last teams talking to Mike Babcock and were thought to be moving on from their coach. But now they have one more year of Hitchcock, and it will go about as well as it has gone so far.
Nick Villano is the NHL feature writer for Rant Sports. He also adds to the site’s NBA, MLB and NFL content. You can follow him on Twitter or add him to your Google circle.
