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Looking at the reasons to fire Ken Hitchcock.

A lot of reasons have been tossed out there. I don't agree with most of them.

Ken hitchcock
Ken hitchcock
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Look, I'm no Hitchcock fanboy.  In April I said 

"Hitch has to go.

Hitch is a good coach.  The Blues have a great defensive system and play it well.

Unfortunately, he's not a great coach.  He is still fixated on Ott's grit.  He churns the forward lines incomprehensibly.  At the end of the day, he had one job this year.  Win in the playoffs.  He didn't get the job done."

Obviously, Army didn't listen and brought Hitch back.  So now we are 36 games into the season and people are calling for Hitch's head.  Why?  Let's look at some of the reasons I've seen.

"Hitchcock scrambles the forward lines"

I don't get why they do it but it seems like every coach scrambles the forward lines every game.  You pretty much can't go to a team blog here without people complaining about their coach's line combinations.

"Hitchcock has lost the room"

I'm not in the room so this might be true.  If true, then, yes he should be gone.  But I don't think it's true.  On the bench, Hitch seems to have the team's attention.  I've seen lots of coaches lose the room.  Paul Maurice.  Peter Laviolette.  Maurice again.  Kirk Muller.  The worst was probably Claude Noel in Winnipeg.  In his final game, Noel calls a time out and the players don't even look at him.  Dustin Byfuglien in particular looks to be in a hypnotic trance.  I don't see that disconnect in the Blues.

"Hitchcock doesn't know how to fix things"

This based on Hitchcock's post-game comments, or so I'm told.  I wouldn't know, since I never pay attention to any coach's post-game comments.  To me, this is a little like wanting to trade a player because his between-period interviews don't let us peer into his hockey soul.  Besides, I think there is a bit of deliberate misdirection here.  More on that in a minute.

"The Blues are inconsistent"

True and some of the games have been a mess.  At the same time, no team plays 82+ great games every year.  Maybe the Blues are getting the lousy games out of their system during the regular season.  Maybe they will play well in the playoffs.  That would be inconsistency I could get behind.

"The system isn't working"

Defensively, the system has worked very well and continues to do so.

Season

GA/60

Rank

SA/60

Rank

SCA/60

Rank

CA/60

Rank

2011-12

1.6

1

25.8

1

22.4

5

49.3

4

2012-13

2

8

23.7

2

22.4

3

47.2

4

2013-14

2

5

25.5

3

23.2

5

48.7

4

2014-15

2

7

26.5

3

24.6

10

51

8

2015-16

2

14

25.3

2

22.8

3

47.5

3

Offensively, things are about the same as usual.

Season

GF/60

Rank

SF/60

Rank

SCF/60

Rank

CF/60

Rank

2011-12

2.1

19

30.1

10

26.3

16

55.8

11

2012-13

2.1

20

27.3

20

23.4

27

51.2

20

2013-14

2.4

7

28.7

17

25.9

16

55.2

13

2014-15

2.4

7

29.9

11

26.8

11

54.7

17

2015-16

2.1

16

31.2

5

25.9

14

55.8

9

While the offensive results are not what I would want them to be, I think the system is only part of the problem here.  Some of the problem is utilization.  The wrong guys are often in the wrong roles.  That would be on Hitch, too.  But some of the problem is the lineup.  A big chunk of offense is talent.  It's mobility and creativity.  How do you improvise when a play breaks down?  Do you see opportunities and react to them?  The inability to do those things aren't flaws in the system; they are flaws in the lineup.

"The Blues have underachieved"

As I write this, the Blues are second in the West and third overall.  I see the Kings as clearly the best team in the West.  The Blues are in a group with Dallas, Chicago, Nashville, and (maybe) Winnipeg a notch down.  Second in the West seems like a good result.

"There are better coaches available"

Maybe true in April, most likely not true now.  The only guys with more wins than Hitchcock are dead or employed by the Blackhawks (aka dead inside).  The only living coaches with better winning percentages are already employed.  

Rank

Coach

From

To

Yrs

GP

W

L

T

OL

PTS

PTS%

1

Cap Raeder

2003

2003

1

1

1

0

0

0

2

1

2

Barry Smith

1999

1999

1

5

4

1

0

8

0.8

3

Tom Johnson*

1971

1973

3

208

142

43

23

307

0.738

4

Alex Curry

1926

1926

1

36

24

8

4

52

0.722

5

Cooney Weiland*

1940

1941

2

96

58

20

18

134

0.698

6

Lou Lamoriello*

2006

2007

2

53

34

14

5

73

0.689

7

Alf Smith*

1919

1919

1

18

12

6

0

24

0.667

8

Scotty Bowman*

1968

2002

30

2141

1244

573

314

10

2812

0.657

9

Bruce Boudreau

2008

2016

9

632

375

182

75

825

0.653

10

Dan Bylsma

2009

2016

7

435

266

133

36

568

0.653

11

Jimmy Gardner

1925

1925

1

30

19

10

1

39

0.65

12

Claude Ruel

1969

1981

5

305

172

82

51

395

0.648

13

Pete Green

1920

1925

6

150

94

52

4

192

0.64

14

Toe Blake*

1956

1968

13

914

500

255

159

1159

0.634

15

Todd McLellan

2009

2016

8

575

326

181

68

720

0.626

16

Floyd Smith

1972

1980

5

309

173

95

41

387

0.626

17

Frank Carroll

1921

1921

1

24

15

9

0

30

0.625

18

Mike Babcock

2003

2016

13

983

539

299

19

126

1223

0.622

19

Dave Cameron

2015

2016

2

90

49

27

14

112

0.622

20

Bill Barber*

2001

2002

2

136

73

40

17

6

169

0.621

21

Joel Quenneville

1997

2016

19

1411

774

450

77

110

1735

0.615

22

Claude Julien

2003

2016

13

893

489

288

10

106

1094

0.613

23

Fred Shero*

1972

1981

10

734

390

225

119

899

0.612

24

Marcel Pronovost*

1978

1979

2

104

52

29

23

127

0.611

25

Ken Hitchcock

1996

2016

19

1358

729

440

88

101

1647

0.606

It's not like Scotty Bowman is shining shoes and pining for a comeback.

"Hitch isn't the right guy for the job"

Probably true.  The Blues probably need this guy:
  
emilio estevez
You know, unlikely coach leads rag-tag bunch of misfits to unexpected championship. The biggest problem at this point isn't Hitchcock, it's the lineup. Sure Hitch churns his forward lines, misuses guys, loves Ott's grart, etc. But GM Doug Armstrong is the real problem in St. Louis. The team he has put together is simply not a Stanley Cup contender. Which is sad because 2-3 years ago it felt like it was. A series of bad trades mostly swapping skill for grit and "bye bye" Stanley Cup window. Hitch is a old-school, stand up guy. When he stands at the podium after a game and spouts gibberish, I think he's covering for his GM. When Hitch says "I don't know what's wrong" that's coach-speak for "What the hell do you expect? We traded Oshie for Brouwer. Oshie has as many goals as Brouwer has points. I had to play Upshall and Brodziak 12 minutes each tonight and they have 8 points. Total. This team needs to be bitten by radioactive spiders to have a chance in the West." So fire Hitch. Or don't fire Hitch. I don't think it matters. Not with Army as the GM.