Ken Hitchcock has turned the Blues into a team

Thirteen games into the Blues 2011-2012 season, with head coach Davis Payne the St. Louis Blues had a record of 6-7. Then on November 6th, 2011 the Blues management decided that their had to be a change to get the team going. At the team the Blues were pretty much dead last in the Western Conference, and needed a way to also get a shot at making the playoffs. So, GM Doug Armstrong knew someone well from his days when he was the GM for the Dallas Stars. The person was head coach Ken Hitchcock. The Blues hired Hitchcock on that day, and fired Davis Payne. Hitchcock became the Blues twenty-fourth head coach in Blues franchise history. During Hitchcock's head coaching career he's made the playoffs nine times, out of sixteen seasons coaching in the NHL. He's been fired three times (Dallas Stars, Philadelphia, and the Columbus Blue Jackets).

He lead the Dallas Stars too two stanley cups, winning one of them. Hitchcock lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to their only winning season in thw 08-09 season, and their only playoff appearance. The Blue Jackets have been in the NHL since 2000. When the Blues hired him, that made him a head coach for sixteen seasons. Ken Hitchcock has been known as a hard nosed head coach, at the time of the hiring some Blues fans weren't sure if he was the right head coach for the Blues, since he hadn't coach since the 09-010 season. But, he had been in an advisor role for the Colmbus Blue Jackets, and was scouting every team and taking notes about them; in order to prepare himself if he became an NHL head coach again. He has taught players how to become better players over his coaching career, for example one of them is former NHL and Hall of Famer, Brett Hull. Hull went to the Dallas Stars in free agency, and wasn't a team player on the Blues. Hitchcock taught him how to become a team player, which ended up helping Brett Hull go on to win some stanley cups, one of them was with the Dallas Stars and others were with the Detroit Red Wings. Also, goalies play better under Hitchcock, a lot of that is because of his coaching style. His coaching style is about defense.

Since the day Hitchcock took over, the Blues have turned their season around a lot. Under Hitchcock, the Blues are 17-5-5 as of now and their record on the season is 23-12-5 (that's combining Payne's 6-7 record at the start of the season). The Blues are now one of the top teams in the Western Conference, currently they are 5th overall in the west. The Blues have a good team, and have players who are injured right now (one is Alex Steen, who now has a concussion), another is Andy McDonald (who has been out since October 13, with a concussion). Other players are Kris Russell, Kent Huskins, and Ryan Reaves. If the Blues can get healthy down the stretch they could be a tough team to beat. Having Andy McDonald and Alex Steen back a lot will help the team, that's once they return. Russell is out for three weeks as of now, hopefully he has no setbacks. Russell has helped the Blues out, ever since the Blues traded for him. Hitchcock knew Russell from his days with the Blue Jacketts, he was Russell's first coach in the NHL.

After a slow start to the season, starting goalie Jaroslav Halak is starting to pick up his game. Halak started the season with a bad record, but as of now is 9-7-5. The Blues back up goalie, Brian Elliott has been a big story this season. Elliott looked like he was about to be out of the NHL, after having a bad season last year going 15-27-4 with three shutouts. Elliott signed a two-way deal with the Blues in the offseason to battle for the back up job with goalie Ben Bishop. Elliott ended up winning the job, even though both goalies did well in camp. The Blues went with Elliott, because he had been in the NHL longer than Bishop has. Elliott helped the Blues out a lot, while Halak was trying to find his game, as of now Elliott is 14-5 with four shutouts on the season. So, the Blues have a good goalie situation for the first time in along time. If the Blues can have a great January, then they have a great shot to make the playoffs for their first time since the 2008-2009 season. Last season, the Blues had a bad January, only winning two games and fell apart that month and ended up missing the playoffs.

That's all for now, AMF.

Who will be the St. Louis Rams head coach?

With the Rams looking for a new head coach again, who will the next head coach be for the Rams? Some names that have been linked to the Rams have been: Jeff Fisher (former head coach of the Tennesse Titans), Jon Gruden (former head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), and Mike Sherman (former head coach of the Green Bay Packers). One of them or someone else, if there aren't any other names popping up, will need to get the Rams back on the right track and get them winning again. I guess you can say that the downfall started in 2005, after Mike Martz had to take leave for health problems. Before he took leave, the Rams were 3-2 in five games under him. Joe Vitt finished out the rest of the season as the head coach, and under him the Rams went 3-8. So, in 2005 their record was 6-10. They brought in Scott Linehan after the 2005 season. Linehan had been an offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings (2002-04), and Miami Dolphins (2005).

Scott Linehan's first season as the Rams head coach looked like it could be a good hire, the Rams went 8-8 in his first season ever as an NFL head coach. The Rams could have made the playoffs for the first time since 2006 if Josh Brown hadn't beaten them by two come from behind field goals, when he played for the Seattle Seahawks or if the Washington Redskins had beaten the New York Giants in week 17. Then came 2007, the team went bad and finished 3-13 in his second season as head coach. After, losing 4 straight games in 2008, Linehan was fired with an 0-4 record. Linehan's defensive coordinator Jim Haslett and former head coach of the New Orleans Saints, took over. Under Haslett, the Rams went 2-10 the rest of the way, so total record in 2008 for the Rams was 2-14.

Steve Spagnuolo era begins, he was hired as head coach going into the 2009 season. He had been the New York Giants defensive coordinator, and was credited for beating Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the 2007 Super Bowl. The records for Spagnulo weren't good (even though his 2010 one was the best, and almost got the Rams into the playoffs for the 1st time since 2004, the Rams had to beat the Seattle Seahawks in the last week of the season, but lost). In 2009, Spagnuolo's first season the Rams went 1-15, second season 7-9, and then in 2011 the Rams went 2-14 under him. Spagnulo and GM Billy Devaney were both fired today. If you look back at the 07 season through 011, the Rams total record is 15-65. Steve Spagnuolo went 10-38 as the Rams head coach, Scott Linehan went 11-25, and Mike Martz went 54-31 as their total records for the Rams as head coach, during their years in St. Louis. Could Mike Martz have noticed things were going bad, when he wanted to draft safety Troy Polamalu in the 2003 NFL draft. The old front office at the time said no, so the Rams ended up drafting DT Jimmy Kennedy. Kennedy never turned out to be good. So, maybe Martz new that things were going down hill, but stuck with the team to try to keep them winning.

Back to the Rams head coaching search for the 2012 NFL season, if I were the Rams, my main target would be Jeff Fisher. Stan Kroenke the Rams owner has money to pay him, if he wants a lot to come to the Rams. Fisher will interview with the Rams later this week. As the head coach of the Tennesse Titans, Fisher had a record of 142-120 in seventeen seasons all with their franchise. Fisher only had six losing seasons as head coach and he made the playoffs six times. Fisher's post season record is 5-6, including the 1999 Super Bowl loss to the Rams. Fisher also has some ties to the Rams, Kevin Demoff's dad is Fisher's agent (Kevin works in the Rams front office) and back in 1991, Fisher was the Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator. If Fisher Titans players and fans liked Jeff Fisher a lot, he's a hard nosed coach who wants to win. Titans fans were upset, when the Titans released him from his contract. doesn't come then, Mike Sherman should be plan B. As of right now Jon Gruden says he doesn't want to get back into coaching in the NFL, and wants to stay working as a broadcaster. Former Rams head coach Dick Vermeil and former Rams running back/HOF Marshall Faulk will both help find a new head coach for the Rams.


That's all for now, AMF.