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Yeo fired in St. Louis


yave1964

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  The Blues were expected to be an improved team after GM Doug Armstrong went out and made a serious splash in the offseason, adding O'Reilly to the top line, Bozak to the second, Maroon to the third and Perron to the middle six as well. Four very good solid veteran forwards to a team that barely missed the postseason last year. Instead they have limped through the season goaltending being an issue at times and now they simply cannot score. Rookie Cal Peterson who was listed as 4th on the Kings organizational depth chart before the season shut them out last night, the Blues 3rd shutout in their past four games. The Blues couldn't take any more and fired Yeo.

 

  I am not a fan of Yeo but I remember the countdown in Minny when he was canned, he had a deer in headlights look for about a week before his mercy killing, I remember a presser where he told reporters that he wasopen to ideas because everything he was trying was not working. In St. Louis he stated a week or so ago that of course his job was on the line. He at least seems honest assessing himself hence defending the poor play of his players at least not ripping them in the press which is a bit of a breath of fresh air. Anyway, sitting 7-9-3 dead last in their division and next to last in the Western conference he was canned.

 

 Craig Berube takes over on an interim basis.

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Yeo fired

Struggling Blues fire Mike Yeo, name Craig Berube interim replacement

After the nadir of their disappointing season, the St. Louis Blues fired head coach Mike Yeo late Monday night, replacing him with interim coach Craig Berube.

The firing came a few hours after the Blues were shut out by the Los Angeles Kings, who have the worst record in the NHL this season, and goaltender Cal Peterson, making just his third NHL start. It was the second straight game in which the Blues were held without a goal, and the third time in four games they had been shut out.

"Everything bothers me right now," said Yeo after the loss to the Kings, in what turned out to be his final news conference. "The work ethic was there. The execution was lacking."

St. Louis had lost four of five games for a 7-9-3 (17 points) record on the season. Their points percentage (.472) was tied for fourth lowest in the NHL.

Yeo was in the third year of a four-year deal that started with him as an associate coach under Ken Hitchcock in 2016. He took over for Hitchcock midway through the 2016-17 season, leading the Blues to the playoffs. They missed the postseason the following season. Yeo went 73-48-11 with the Blues, following a 173-132-44 record with the Minnesota Wild from 2011 to 2016.

The bar for the Blues had been raised dramatically in the offseason after a series of high-profile additions to the roster: Ryan O'Reilly, acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in a multiplayer deal, as well as free-agent additions in Tyler Bozak, Pat Maroon and David Perron. In total, the Blues had the fourth-highest salary cap figure in the NHL at over $79.9 million.

Berube, 52, joined the Blues as associate coach in June 2017. He was previously the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers from 2013 to 2015, following several years as an assistant, posting a 75-58-28 record overall and making the playoffs in one of two seasons. He then coached the AHL Chicago Wolves. As a player, Berube appeared in 17 NHL seasons, including stints with Philadelphia, Toronto, Calgary, Washington and the New York Islanders. He amassed 3,149 penalty minutes in 1,054 career games.

Interestingly, the team released this news only a few minutes after the completion of the Monday Night Football classic between the Los Angeles Rams, formerly of St. Louis, and the Kansas City Chiefs, who play in a popular market for the Blues, in a game that dominated the sports conversation.
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Oh, it is. A slight upgrade. From an average AHL goon to a capricious NHL goon.

 

Nothing better than an open season on goalies, aye Craig?! If this guy doesn't have CTE then who.

 

 

And nowadays some goalies complain players hit them on purpose... 😏

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Back to the Yeo firing, you could smell the smoke from 1000 miles away... The logical decision as we were all surprised for the Blues' bad tenure so far. They were supposed to have significantly gotten better during the offseason...

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It makes you wonder if the issues with the team are not much deeper than just head coach.  If I remember correctly Hitch was fired rather abruptly to bring in Yeo in his last season.  AND out of the blue (pun intended) Assistant, GM Marty Brodeur leaves the organization this summer.  And the team just failed to get out of the gate.

 

There is quite a bit of chatter that the Blues Fans would like for Quenneville to be hired, but that may be too steep of a price tag as Chicago would like for his next employer to take on that $6M salary the Hawks are paying him along with the year and a half salary left over from Yeo.  Sink or swim I think the cheap Berube will be the coach for the remainder of the season.  

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2 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

Oh, it is. A slight upgrade. From an average AHL goon to a capricious NHL goon.

 

Nothing better than an open season on goalies, aye Craig?! If this guy doesn't have CTE then who.

 

 

And nowadays some goalies complain players hit them on purpose... 😏

 

Man the good ol days...

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With guys like Quenneville and Vigneault available, you have to imagine the Blues reached out to them and were turned down.  Or, maybe their asking prices were too high for the Blues.  Either way, not a good look for the Blues.  

 

Have fun with Berube.  Although, with the Flyers' luck, he will guide the Blues to a Stanley Cup appearance this year.

 

 I'm not sure what to make of the job Armstrong has done.  They added a lot of names in the offseason, but not a lot of speed.  In a league where speed is paramount, the Blues - at least on paper - seem to be lacking in that regard.  Give him credit for making moves in an attempt to improve his team, but I'm not sure how effective he's been.  I like the players he brought in individually, but not sure how I feel about them as an entire group.  How do Blues fans feel about Army?

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14 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

Oh, it is. A slight upgrade. From an average AHL goon to a capricious NHL goon.

 

Nothing better than an open season on goalies, aye Craig?! If this guy doesn't have CTE then who.

 

 

And nowadays some goalies complain players hit them on purpose... 😏

 

God, I miss HOCKEY.

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13 hours ago, hf101 said:

Sink or swim I think the cheap Berube will be the coach for the remainder of the season

 

If that's the case, Armstrong should be fired (which I've said for several seasons). 

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  • 4 weeks later...

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