In January of 1997 Joel Quenneville was hired as the Blues head coach. After five full seasons and two half seasons, Quenneville’s 307 victories is the most for a Blues head coach. None of that mattered yesterday, as the team fired Quenneville. St. Louis underachieved this season and is currently in ninth place in the Western Conference, which is one spot out of the playoffs. The Blues haven’t missed the post season since the 1978-1979 campaign. Instead of going on a head-coaching search, the Blues decided to promote assistant Mike Kitchen to take over for Quenneville. He’s in his sixth season with the team and spent nine years as an assistant for the Maple Leafs before coming to St. Louis. Kitchen played eight seasons as a defenseman for the Colorado Rockies and New Jersey Devils. Kitchen’s first game as head coach will be tomorrow night against the Avalanche.