Comments (0) Best Move - 2012
St. Louis Blues' acquisition of Ken Hitchcock
On November 6, 2011, the St. Louis Blues were treading away with a 6-7-0 record, playing a similar version of uninspired hockey that St. Louisans had been watching for the last several seasons. From 2006 to 2010 the team managed to scrape together a respectable record under then-coach Andy "Skeletor" Murray, but the talent level never owned up to its potential. Inserting Davis Payne as coach in the interim netted even less of a return, prompting general manager Doug Armstrong to pull the trigger on the most regarded coach on the market: Ken Hitchcock. It was no secret that Hitch knew how to win, but the results were unfathomable. He took the Blues on a staggering 43-15-11 run, and steered the team to a No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. The Blues went on to eliminate the pesky San Jose Sharks, only to lose to the eventual Stanley Cup champs in the Los Angeles Kings. Now serving as the most-tenured coach in pro sports in St. Louis, Hitchcock's addition to the St. Louis Blues is incalculable.
