Blues fire Murray
by James Mirtle on Jan 2, 2010 12:24 PM CST
6 comments
St. Louis Blues President John Davidson announced today that the club has named Davis Payne as Interim Head Coach. Payne becomes the 23rd coach in the history of the St. Louis Blues replacing Andy Murray, who was relieved of his duties.
"Davis is very knowledgeable of the players in our organization and we feel he is the best candidate to coach our team," said Davidson. "He has nine winning seasons at the minor league level which includes an ECHL Championship in 2006.
"I would like to thank Andy Murray for the job he has done here the past four seasons," continued Davidson. "He was an intergral part in turning the St. Louis Blues around. He is a true professional and I wish him the best of luck in the future."
>> team release
And another one bites the dust.
This really isn't a huge surprise, and rumours Murray was on the hot seat have been around almost all season. Back in mid-November, Blues owner David Checketts made a rare rant to the press saying, essentially, that the team's rebuilding was over and "it was time to win."
St. Louis, meanwhile, posted an 11-10-2 record since that point, falling further behind the playoff pace in the Western Conference.
The Blues had that ridiculous run last season to end the year, flying into the postseason over the second half with one of the best records in the NHL, something that raised expectations too high heading into this season. This is still a team in transition, one that should be relying more on its youth than old hands like Darryl Sydor on the back end.
Payne I don't know a lot about. He's only been in the AHL as a head coach for a season and a half, is fairly young at 39 and did very well with the Alaska Aces of the ECHL before that. His team is currently nine points out of a playoff spot, so he has his work cut out for him.
Me, I didn't see the Blues as a playoff team coming into this season. While you can understand the impatience from ownership on some level, the roster continues to be a work in progress, one with a lot of potential but which still needs time to grow.
0 recs |
6 comments
| Add comment
|
Email
Print
Comments
Isn't it kind of odd
to name as “interim” coach someone who wasn’t already with the team? It isn’t like Payne brings with him an established relationship with the players; most of them didn’t even meet him in the minors.
I've been looking at the sky
That’s why he is an “interim” coach, if it doesn’t work out they will move him back down more than likely and maybe bring in John Stevens???
Empty net goals are for homos. --Al Iafrate
If St. Louis continues to struggle even with the coaching change, how much pressure will there be on John Davidson to make personnel changes? Though Vincent Lecavalier has a very unpalatable contract, I don’t think it’s far-fetched to think the Blues are sniffing around for a player with Stanley Cup experience who is still young enough, in exchange for some of their youth.
Supporter of the Sergei Berezin "Give and Go" - You give me puck, then you go to hell
... and therein lies the problem with the Blues.
I told the wife after the NYE game that it’s games like that which lead to a coach getting fired … so I’m not that surprised. However, I’ve said it for easily 5 years now, and I’ll continue to say it: the biggest problem with the Blues is the attitude of the players wearing the Bluenote. They simply do not play with any killer instinct, no “we’re going to win, and we’re going to beat the hell out of the other team” attitude. Far too often, it’s “ooh, I know we’re 43-20-7 and our opponent tonight is 15-52-5, but I hope we can get lucky and eek out a win in OT somehow” instead of, “whatever – let’s roll them 10-1 and send a message to the rest of the league.”
Coaching can’t fix that; it has to come from the players first. Changing coaches will fix some things [and there’s problems that need fixing] but ultimately, none of that is going to matter if the players don’t have the drive to want to dominate night in and night out.
If they continue to struggle, the fan base will be screaming from the rooftops demanding JD gut the “go the youth” plan and deal any prospect with a modicum of talent for Kovalchuk, Staal, Kessel, and all the other favored “he’ll fix all our problems” players. That, in turn, sets up the distinct possibility that the Blues return to the days of the 90s where they shed young talent in a desperate, “we gotta win now” approach that saw (A) no magical Cup run, and (B) those departed players go on to win Cups elsewhere.
One way or another, we’re going to know pretty soon whether the anti-Murray faction was right and the problem was the guy behind the bench. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out.
Whether we win this year or not
We have the built in excuse of learning a new hockey system then this off season we lose half a dozen players, mostly vets and more than likely getting younger. Payne really doesn’t have a ton of pressure on him to win aside from his own aspirations of being an NHL coach.
Something to say? Choose one of these options to log in.
On Facebook? Use Connect to join SB Nation. Share insights with fans and friends.- » Create a new SB Nation account
- » Already registered with SB Nation? Log in!
Secondary Sidebar
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Latest Puck Daddy - NHL from Yahoo! Sports
- Exclusive: Kovalchuk on the end of NHL contract controversy
- NHL 2010-11 Season Preview: Wrestling with Calgary Flames
- Video: Goal with soccer-style header looks cool, probably illegal
- Leonsis calls out Toronto columnist for Ovechkin contract slam
- NHL 2010-11 Season Preview: Wrestling with Buffalo Sabres
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
