Mike Yeo will begin his tenure as the head coach of the St. Louis Blues earlier than he expected.
On Wednesday morning, Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong announced that Ken Hitchcock has been relieved of his duties as head coach.
Yeo, who was hired last summer as Associate Coach and was to take over as head coach of the Blues next season, was promoted effective immediately.
The team held a press conference Wednesday morning to introduce Yeo as the new head coach.
During that press conference Yeo admitted he is feeling mixed emotions about the mid season promotion.
"The first thing I have to do is thank Hitch. He was nothing but amazing to me,” stated Yeo.
"I learned a great deal from (Hitch) and I'm very appreciative. I feel extremely bad that I'm sitting up here today."
Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong hopes the move will help the team to become a team again.
"We have to take pride in doing things for each other for the betterment of the team,” said Armstrong.
Yeo knows this team can be better.
"None of us are satisfied or can be satisfied with where we're at right now. We all have to dig deeper than we have,” said Yeo.
The decision comes as the Blues have one win in their last six games and finished 5-8 during the month of January.
With a 5-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets at home on Tuesday night, the Blues find themselves in the final Wild Card position in the Western Conference.
Hitchcock served as the head coach of the Blues since Nov. 8, 2011.
Yeo, 43, is in his first season with the Blues after spending the majority of his career as the head coach of the Minnesota Wild. Yeo led Minnesota to a 173-132-44 record, which included three consecutive postseason appearances, including back-to-back appearances in the second round in 2014 and 2015.
Prior to his stint in Minnesota, Yeo spent one season as the head coach of the American Hockey League's Houston Aeros, where he led the club to the 2011 Calder Cup Final.
The North Bay native also spent 10 seasons in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, including four as an assistant coach with the Penguins, where he captured the 2009 Stanley Cup.
Yeo also captured a gold medal last May, as he guided Team Canada to a World Championship at the event held in Moscow.
