It didn’t take for Blues team president John Davidson to find a replacement for Mike Kitchen. He actually had a new man at the helm in less than 24 hours. Kitchen was fired from his coaching duties after practice Monday. New head coach Andy Murray was introduced as the new man later that afternoon, becoming the 22nd coach in franchise history. Murray is expected to join the team tonight when they host Chicago at the Scottrade Center.
The Blues finished with the worst record in the NHL last season under Kitchen and things looked to be headed in the same direction this year. St. Louis is 7-17-4 this year and currently riding a seven-game losing streak.
“It’s not a pleasant situation,” Davidson said. “It’s something we felt that we had to make a change for the Blues organization to move forward. I have a great deal of respect for a good hockey man in Mike Kitchen. I would love to see him stay within the franchise long-term, and that’s something we’ll discuss later.”
Murray’s last coaching gig was in Los Angeles before he was fired last spring with 12 games left in the season. In the five full seasons Murray coached the Kings, Los Angeles reached the postseason three times, but only advanced past the first round once.
