Le s than 24 hours after the 2015-16 NHL season came to an end, we already have some pretty major coaching news that will impact the 2017-18 season. The St. Louis Blues announced on Monday morning that former Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo has been added to their staff as an Jawon Hamilton Jersey a sociate coach under head coach Ken Hitchcock, and that Yeo will become the head coach of the team at the start of the 2017-18 season once Hitchcock steps away from coaching. Hitchcock, who has been the coach of the Blues since the 2011-12 season, has already announced that he plans on a one-year deal.The Blues obviously wanted to waste no time in finding his replacement."We're excited to Connor Barwis Jersey have Mike Yeo join us an an a sociate 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 in a statement released by the team. "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."While the Blues are selling this as a move for 2017-18, you almost have to wonder if Chase Farris Jersey this is a move that prepares them for an in-season coaching change in 2016-17 if the team gets off to a slow start. Given the Blues' lack of postseason succe s under Hitchcock his job has seemingly been in jeopardy in recent years, and had they lost in the first round to the Chicago Blackhawks this year in Game 7 you almost have to wonder if they would have just gone ahead and made significant changes now. But because the team was able to get over that hump and reached the Western Conference Finals, it pretty much changed everything about the immediate future of the team. But this is the NHL, and things can quickly change when it comes to coaching. As for Yeo, he spent the past four-and-a-half years coaching the Wild, Kendric Pryor Jersey taking the team to the playoffs three times. He was fired midway through the 2015-16 season while the team was in the middle of a brutal stretch that nearly cost them a chance to make the playoffs. Even though the team rebounded under his replacement, John Torchetti, the DaShaun White Jersey problems in Minnesota than the coach. It is impo sible to know what the Blues roster will look like in 2017, but at the very least he is going to have a couple of really talented forwards in the prime of their careers to work with In Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, and Robby Fabbri.