For the last several years it has been no easy task to sit in front of the T.V. and watch the St. Louis Blues. Unispired hockey at its best with no sense of urgency or team character year after year. A great coaching staff is an an essential part of any teams success, no doubt about it. Yes the players ultimately create the teams destiny but good coaches know how to reach inside the players and get results from them. Davis Payne, I am sure, is one of the nicest guys as far as coaches go. Maybe too nice. Payne just couldn't get the job done and there is no other way to put it. Its one thing to know the Xs and Os but another to instill the keys to victory through experience and knowledge of a veteran coach like Hitchcock. Hitchcock is 534-350-88-70 in 1042 games he has coached. In 1999 he led the Dallas Stars to a Stanley Cup Championship. In the picture above there is more intensity in Hitchcock's eyes than was ever seen in Davis Payne's eyes from the Blues bench or in an interview. There is no place in the NHL for a coach who is as laid back as Payne. Respect must be earned and as a coach I don't think Payne was given much by his team. Sure the players are going to talk him up as long as they could walk all over him like they have been doing for a year and a half now. Well sharpen up those blades boys and get em' good and tight cause I think you all are going to be getting some extra ice time at the ol' practice rink. Hitchcock has been known to shape up players who don't put in the extra effort. He can walk the line of being stern but not to the point where his players resent him for it. I am sure that Hitchcock will light a fire under some of the underachievers and inspire those who are already doing all they can. This is what the Blues need right now. Ken Hitchcock will be like an I.V. to the arteries full of antibiotics to cure the infection that has spread through Payne's lack of leadership. The first dose
of Hitchcock should go to cure the 30th ranked powerplay and 28th ranked penalty kill. The Blues need to get the special teams going if the playoffs are going to come to St. Louis. The second dose of Hitchcock should be to ignite a fire under underachieving players such as goaltender Jaroslav Halak, Chris Stewart, Patrik Berglund, and "on the bubble" T.J. Oshie. Instilling confidence to the players will be a great undertaking and in order to instill that confidence Hitchcock will have to turn this team around and start holding players responsible for their mistakes and poor play.
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The move made today is exciting due to the fact that it shows the Blues management is wanting a change and wanting to win. They were not going to wait until it was too late in the season before giving another coach his chance to turn this season around. This is a new era for Blues fans and what a choice the Blues have made for a head coach. There is a new force and energy to be reckoned with in Hitchcock. I do not want to get too far ahead of myself, I mean there is a lot of work to be done and not a lot of time to do it. Only time will tell if this team can be all they can be. We have the youth and the talent. Now, the talent has to be molded into the team we know the Blues can be. Can Hitchcock harvest out of our once pampered team the enthusiasm to win night after night? Can he be the one that reaps the rewards by getting this club to play 60 minutes a game? Can he be the inspiration, the hammer, the axe, and the mentor this club has needed for years. Only time will tell, but I for one think so.
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