On Nov. 9, the St. Louis Blues had a record of six wins, seven losses and zero overtime losses. It was on that day, that the general manager of the St. Louis Blues, Doug Armstrong, made a rather large decision. He fired the team’s head coach, Davis Payne, and replaced him with a coach by the name of Ken Hitchcock.

Since that day, the Blues have won 23 games, lost five in regulation and six in overtime. Out of 68 possible points (a win is worth two points, a loss in overtime is worth one point and a loss in regulation is worth zero points), the Blues have earned 52 points. That’s remarkable.

The team has responded wonderfully to the coaching change and is now looking towards the playoffs. Currently, the Blues are in fourth place in the Western Conference with 64 points with 47 games played.

The Blues have been succeeding without key players such as Alex Steen, David Perron, Andy McDonald, Kris Russell and B.J. Crombeen. Each player has missed a rather large part of the season or their return is in doubt. Perron had been out since last season after he missed 72 games due to a concussion. He missed over a season’s worth of games when he returned in December. McDonald and Steen each have concussions, which leaves the question if they will return this season or not.

As for Hitchock, with the way the team has had success, he might win the Jack Adams Award (the National Hockey League’s version of Coach of the Year) assuming the Blues can make the playoffs.

At this point in time, the Blues look like a playoff team, but things can change. Although fans can’t be certain, the Blues looked primed for their first playoff win since 2004.