The St. Louis Blues named former Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo as an associate coach, and will take over as the club’s head coach in 2017-18 following the departure of Ken Hitchcock, who is entering his final season behind the bench. The Blues also announced Rick Wilson will join the staff as an assistant coach. Ray Bennett (assistant coach), Jim Corsi (goalie coach) and Sean Ferrell (video coach) will return.
“We’re excited to have Mike Yeo (pronounced Yoh) join us an an associate coach for next season and to become the next head coach for the St. Louis Blues for three years after that,” Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong said. “For being 42 years old, he’s got a lot of experience. He’s won a Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh, he’s taken an American League team to the finals and you saw the good job he did in Minnesota in taking that team to the second round. What excites me is his experience, but with his age, he can really relate to today’s players and it’s an exciting day for our team.”
“Wherever I go, I know I want to be surrounded by good people. I know we have that (in St. Louis),” Yeo said. “From ownership, to management, to coaches to the team that they’ve built, I really feel like this is a place where I can be successful. I want to win Stanley Cups, and I believe that we’ve got a group that should go into every season with that mentality. I’m really excited about that.”
Yeo spent the majority of the last five seasons as the head coach of the Minnesota Wild, leading the club to a 173-132-44 record, including a 46-28-8 mark in 2014-15, which was the second-best mark in Wild history. Yeo also guided Minnesota to three postseason appearances, including back-to-back trips to the second round in 2014 and 2015.
“I feel really confident that the team and the franchise is going to be in great shape with Mike at the helm,” Hitchcock said.