Joe Strauss: Hitchcock wants to stay

rudy4u51

Joe Strauss: Hitchcock wants to stay

1 by rudy4u51

Weird timing with all of the Hitch hate lately.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/ ... 5941b.html

"Ken Hitchcock insists he would have hedged if asked before Christmas about his future as coach of the Blues. At the time, he was unsigned and undecided about 2015-16. Now he is only unsigned.

Hitchcock, 63 and in his fourth season behind the Blues’ bench, describes himself as “invigorated” by what has transpired with a team stylistically different from its recent predecessors. Hitchcock says he detects “buy-in” to an altered approach that asks his top three lines to play different rather than redundant styles. Others, including general manager Doug Armstrong, have referred to greater give and take – even push and pull – between the rank-and-file and Hitchcock.

Yet if Hitchcock remained unsure about his thirst for more around Thanksgiving, he insists he knows the answer as Easter and the NHL playoffs approach.

“The focus and energy necessary to be a real good coach in this league is really high. I’m more demanding of myself than anybody,” Hitchcock offered earlier this week. “I judge myself on energy and focus and an ability to motivate people and inspire guys to play well. I would say the best description is that this season has reconfirmed how much I love coaching.”

Hitchcock won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year his first season in St. Louis. He has the Blues poised for a second straight 100-point season. Winning four of the schedule’s last six would leave the club with 50 wins. The Blues are 177-71-27 during the regular season since his hire.

Hitchcock cites the Western Conference’s competitiveness, the possibility that the top seed could finish no more than 10 points ahead of the No. 8 seed and how these Blues have more often climbed than drifted within the standings.

“There are going to be some dynamite teams in our conference that don’t get in (the playoffs). A lot of it is based on the players’ ability to buy what the coaching staff is selling. We’ve accomplished that while transforming the team,” he said. “But what’s invigorated me is coaching a different group of guys. There have been four or five changes and we’ve still had a high level of success. I think the staff and players buying in is what drives me to coach a lot longer. I really want to do that.”

Still, by leaving his future open for question this season, it’s fair to wonder if the organization holds to its September position that the job is his as long as Hitchcock desires it.

Four years is an eternity in the NHL. The Blues have advanced past the first round only once under Hitchcock and have yet to win a second-round game. Forward T.J. Oshie cited information overload after Monday’s unsightly loss to Vancouver. Hitchcock assumes assurances offered in September remain in force today. Others in the organization suggest less tolerance for another first-round playoff exit given the previous three years’ 8-13 postseason record.

“There’s always going to be a question for players and coaches until we win a first round. But it’s a question I’m not afraid to answer,” Hitchcock said. “I don’t know the answer right now but this team is built to go long in series, long in games. We’ve won a lot of games late. We’ve been at our best in the second and third periods. We know we can go the distance. Like everyone else I won’t know until it plays out but I’m looking forward to answering the questions.”

Hitchcock and the club assumed a mutual option on his contract after last season. Hitchcock said that was his preference, much as friend and former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa eventually opted for a year-to-year arrangement that ended days after the club secured the 2011 World Series. The two men speak monthly.

An avid baseball fan, Hitchcock is attuned to La Russa’s extensive rebuild as chief baseball officer of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He’s also aware of La Russa’s thirst for a daily outcome, a verdict that only comes from being part of a team.

Having worked behind the bench in Dallas, Philadelphia and Columbus before relocating here in 2011, Hitchcock tags St. Louis as the first place he and his wife, Corina, have expanded their circle of friends beyond hockey.

“Right now I feel like I would coach forever but I don’t want to make a promise I can’t keep,” Hitchcock said. “Whatever happens, all I know is I want to coach. There were times in November and December where I thought, ‘This is a struggle.’ That ended in January. It’s been off and running since. We had some trouble getting players to buy in and you start wondering if we could do it the way we did before. But when you see what this team can do, it’s invigorating.”

Hitchcock acknowledges “coaching often becomes a battle of wills.” This season has witnessed some of that as Hitchcock ditched a universal north-south approach. The first line centered by David Backes typically funnels the puck toward the net. The second plays more of a creative, rush-attack style while the third typically cycles. Last year’s style was more “territorial,” according to Hitchcock. This one places greater emphasis on puck control. That control became less consistent during a 6-5-3 March.

The coach admits to a grinding pressure this and every regular season. To hear Hitchcock, that pressure actually eases during the playoffs because of the game’s immediacy. There is no more long range.

“During the season you look at the standings 10 times a day. You worry about everything — who’s playing who, who could surge, where that leaves you,” he said. “That goes away when the playoffs start. The game’s right in front of you. The pressure is on. I look forward to playing pressure hockey. You really play one game at a time.”

There is much left to decide. The Blues haven’t scored in the first period of their last 10 games, creating much pressure on the goaltending tandem of Brian Elliott and Jake Allen. They are 4-7 in their last seven on home ice. Vladimir Tarasenko left Monday’s game with a lower-body injury. Jaden Schwartz didn’t play the second period’s final eight minutes as a coach’s decision. A sense of heaviness is only amplified by last season’s injury-related collapse. Squandering home ice two weeks after leading the conference in points would not, shall we say, be a good look.

Hitchcock is energized and invigorated. That’s a positive, because he is good for this city and for this franchise. He gets media and he helped impart an identity and a presence too long missing at Scottrade. But now it’s April. And one catches the vibe that others within the organization are awaiting energy and invigoration on the ice."

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