Will Davis Payne Remain Head Coach?

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The Blues have 13 games left in the regular season and are seven points back of Detroit for the final playoff spot in the West. Since taking over as interim head coach for Andy Murray, Davis Payne is 15-11-3. Murray was 17-17-6 before being dismissed on January 2nd.

The question is will Davis Payne be the Blues' head coach, beyond July 1st, when Doug Armstrong takes over as general manager for the retiring Larry Pleau?

Armstrong, the Blues' current Vice President of Player Personnel (since May 29, 2008), replaced Bob Gainey as Dallas' G-M in 2002 under similar circumstances. The previous season (2001-2002) Ken Hitchcock, who guided the Stars to their lone Stanley Cup Championship in 1999, was replaced as head coach in the middle of the campaign by former Blues' defenseman Rick Wilson (no not Rik Wilson). Armstrong would ultimately replace Wilson in the following offseason, with his own man, by appointing current Phoenix bench boss Dave Tippett to be head coach.

Will Armstrong follow suit and make a change again, here in St. Louis? I think it's possible, especially with someone qualified LIKE Hitchcock available. However, I would prefer to see the team stick with the younger Payne who comes from the American Hockey League where he guided Peoria. The AHL has become the NHL's breeding ground for numerous successful current head coaches (Pittsburgh's Dan Bylsma, Colorado's Joe Sacco, Ottawa's Cory Clouston and to a lesser degree the New York Islanders' Scott Gordon). Payne will be 40 years old on September 24th.

Other factors in Payne's favor are the improvement in special teams (2nd in penalty kill and 23rd in power play entering Tuesday night's loss to Colorado) and overall play at home (Note has won three of its last four at Scottrade Center). The Note clearly plays with a significantly improved confidence on the man-advantage compared with where they were in the first half.

In a recent visit with Bernie Miklasz on 101 ESPN, Blues' President John Davidson seemed to suggest that Payne was doing a solid job, at the very least, and that he had done little to nothing to hinder his chances of shedding the interim tag. Though Davidson did qualify such comments by reiterating that Armstrong would eventually have a say in the direction of the team's head coaching position after this season when taking over for Pleau.

TPC