Ken Hitchcock helped the Blues get over a big hurdle this postseason, and the team has rewarded its coach by keeping him behind the bench for the 2016-17 season.
Hitchcock, 64, said the run to the Western Conference final made him want to come back.
MORE: NHL's best hockey hair | 2016 Stanley Cup photos
“This season has invigorated me like no season before,” Hitchcock said during a press conference Tuesday at Scottrade Center. “For 10 years, I haven’t seen anything like this and it was really exciting. It was fun to be around and it was a great group of people with a tremendously structured, defined leadership [group] in that locker room. It make it so fun to coach. I really think we have another gear in us and I want to be part of that.”
Hitchcock also said the 2016-17 season would be his last.
“I’m not coaching after this year,” he said. “This is it. I’m done.”
No terms on the one-year deal were made public.
In Hitchcock's five seasons in St. Louis, while going 224-103-36, the Blues before this year had advanced past the first round of the playoffs only once, in his first season (2011-12).
This year, however, the Blues jumped that hurdle — and more — reaching the Western Conference final for the first time since 2001 before falling to the Sharks.
Hitchcock has 757 regular-season NHL victories. He needs 26 more to pass Al Arbour for third place on the career coaching list, trailing only Scotty Bowman and Joel Quenneville, who also ranks ahead of Hitchcock on the Blues' franchise wins list with 307.
