The newest coach of the St. Louis Blues took some time before practice today to speak with the media. Hitchcock played the happy new addition despite coaching against the Blues when he was coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. He has worked with Doug Armstrong in Dallas and he has worked with President John Davidson in the past, so factor in the familiarity that came with coaching against the Blues and Armstrong seems to be in a comfortable place.
Armstrong explained his decision to fire Davis Payne and hire Armstrong to Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post Dispatch:
"It’s something when I looked at our team and saw the way we were progressing, there were postmarks that you look for in management," Armstrong said. "And I felt where we are at right now, we needed an experienced coach, someone that could guide this younger team to the area it wants to go to. I just felt that I wanted the certainty of a head coach with a proven track record, a winner, to push these young players and push this organization to the next level.
Hopefully Armstrong’s faith is rewarded, as Hitchcock tends to push young players and tends to squash their creativity in the process. Then again, their creativity hasn’t worked this year, so perhaps adding that into a solid system will benefit both the scoring and goaltending.
Here's Hitchcock's interview:
And Armstrong's: