ST. LOUIS (CP) - The St. Louis Blues fired head coach Joel Quenneville Tuesday, cutting ties with one of hockey's most respected coaches.
The team has called a news conference for 7:30pm et when it is expected the move will be made official. Quenneville's assistant Mike Kitchen has been named interim head coach for the rest of the season.
Under Quenneville, who won the Jack Adams Trophy as NHL coach of the year in 1999-2000, the Blues have won 40 or more games five of the six full seasons he's been in charge.
But his seventh season behind the bench has been nothing but disappointing. The Blues, ravaged by injuries, are fighting for their playoff lives in the Western Conference at 29-23-7-2 in a year where they were expected to challenge for first place.
The 45-year-old native of Windsor, Ont., has long been considered one of the brightest coaches in the game and was an outside candidate to coach Team Canada at the World Cup of Hockey before Pat Quinn was brought back from the Olympic team.
But if there's a knock on Quenneville, it's that his Blues haven't translated regular-season success into the post-season. His .500 record in the playoffs (34-34) includes only one trip to the Western Conference final since taking over midway through the 1996-97 season. Many attribute those struggles to inconsistent goaltending.
