Ken Hitchcock has another one-year deal to coach the St Louis Blues. The 64-year-old Hitchcock said it would be his last.
Hitchcock said plans to retire from coaching after this season, because he is not willing to put in the off-season preparation necessary.
“This is it, so I am done,” Hitchcock said on Tuesday, joking: “I might move over to the media, we will see.”
Hitchcock is to enter his sixth season with the Blues and 20th season as a head coach. During that time, he has guided the franchise to four of its top-five regular season point totals. The Blues are coming off their first appearance in the NHL Western Conference Finals since 2001, ending a string of three consecutive first-round playoff exits.
“Ken did a fabulous job, in my opinion,” general manager Doug Armstrong said, seated at a table next to Hitchcock. “We had a lot of adversity that we have not had in the past. We got a lot of miles out of a lot of players that we were not expecting.”
Hitchcock said committing to just one more season could allow him to be more “unguarded” in his views. He added he wanted no part of a farewell tour, but he was clearly excited about coming back one more time.
“I just feel like I have got this really good year in me,” Hitchcock said. “This season has invigorated me like no season before.”
“When you break through the ceiling, the potential is unlimited. I think we have another gear in us and I want to be part of that,” he added.
One assistant, Brad Shaw, declined an offer to return for the final season. Armstrong said another assistant, Kirk Muller, could be a contender to succeed Hitchcock. Muller was head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes from 2011 to 2014.
However, that speculation is for later. Armstrong emphasized Hitchcock was not returning to “caddy” and was “still going to hit the shots.”
“Since the day he walked through this door, we win two out of every three games,” Armstrong said. “Digest this for a second.”
The Blues piled up 107 points last season, then eliminated defending Stanley Cup champions the Chicago Blackhawks and Central Division champions the Dallas Stars in the playoffs. They lost to San Jose in six games in the conference finals, a step slow to the speedy Sharks.
Under Hitchcock, St Louis have finished first or second in the Central every season. He is fourth in NHL history with 757 regular-season wins.
Armstrong said the off-season priority is to sign restricted free-agent forward Jaden Schwartz to a long-term extension. If that does not happen and Schwartz gets a one-year deal, it could open payroll that would allow them to retain captain David Backes and/or fellow forward Troy Brouwer, both unrestricted free agents. Brouwer is 30 years old and Backes, who has been with the team a decade, is 32.
Armstrong, while acknowledging Backes’ value, added that the league overall has gotten faster.
“I think David’s got a number of good years left. I would love to keep him here, but it has to work out for David and his family, and it has to work into our math equation,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong said he would have no problem with goaltenders Brian Elliott and Jake Allen, both under contract, battling for the No. 1 job again next season.
The general manager dismissed rumors of friction with star forward Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored 40 goals in the regular season and was a force the first two rounds of the playoffs before getting shut down by the Sharks.
“I have never felt it,” Armstrong said. “I have zero issues he is not 100 percent committed.”
Tarasenko declined to talk to media last weekend, saying he was too disappointed.
“It is a bad experience, but it is still experience for us,” Tarasenko said on Tuesday. “You know now what it takes to go this deep.”
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