Mike Yeo Named as Ken Hitchcock’s Successor

The St. Louis Blues have named Mike Yeo an Associate Coach, and Rick Wilson was named an Assistant Coach for the 2016-17 season.

Yeo will be taking over the head coaching duties to begin the 2017-18 season and his four year contract will run through the 2019-20 season. Ken Hitchcock, the Blues current Head Coach, said that next year would be his last coaching behind a NHL bench.

Yeo, 42, spent most of the five previous seasons with the Minnesota Wild. He was relieved of his duties on February 14, 2016, after the Wild went on an 0-6-2 stretch. Yeo compiled a 173-134-44 regular season record while with Minnesota, which included a record of 48-28-8 in the 2014-15 season, which is the second best record in Wild franchise history. Yeo helped the Wild to three Stanley Cup Playoff appearances including back-to-back second round appearances in 2014 and 2015. In 28 playoff games, he has a record of 11-17.

Prior to the Wild head coaching job, he was the Head Coach of the AHL Houston Aeros. He led the Aeros to the 2011 Calder Cup Final. He spent 10 seasons in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, including four as an assistant coach, and won the Stanley Cup in 2009. In his first six seasons with the Penguins, he was an Assistant Coach for the Penguins AHL Affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Blues also named Rick Wilson as an Assistant Coach for the upcoming season. Wilson was the Assistant Coach for the Wild for the past five seasons. He was an Assistant Coach to Hitchcock for the Dallas Stars when the team won the Stanley Cup in 1999. He played 239 games as a defenseman in the NHL.

Ray Bennett will be back for his 10th season as an Assistant Coach and Jim Corsi will return for his third seaosn as the goalie coach.