Wearing a St. Louis Blues "Established in '67" ball cap and dressed head-to-toe in Blues garb, Mike Yeo walked out of the Blues' offices for our interview Thursday, looked at me and said, "Well, this is bizarre."
I'll say.
During Yeo's five years as the Wild coach, Yeo loved beating the Blues. Yeo, the ultimate competitor, loves a challenge, and he always knew there were few tougher buildings to walk out of with a victory and few teams tougher to beat than St. Louis. One of his greatest highs in Minnesota was knocking the Blues out of the playoffs two seasons ago.
Now, not only does Yeo wear the rival blue and yellow as legendary NHL coach Ken Hitchcock's chief lieutenant, he's the Blues' coach-in-waiting for when Hitch allegedly retires after this season.
"Everything I hoped it would be, it's been even more than that," Yeo said of working alongside Hitchcock. "I looked at this as an opportunity to come here and learn, but I'm a competitor and I've got some pretty strong beliefs and views on how I think the game should be played, so right off the hop I recognized we both saw the game in similar light.
"He's been outstanding about listening to my input and making me feel that I'm more than a guy out there just pushing the pucks."
Yeo's role is running the power play, working with the forwards and dealing with players individually. On the bench, even though he no longer stands in the middle, he still has that head coach look.
"I don't know what to do with my hands like Will Ferrell in 'Talladega Nights,' " joked Yeo, who normally stood with arms crossed.
Still, many critics across the NHL say how odd this is that the Blues would hire their future head coach to work with the current head coach, especially since so much can happen in a year.
"The things I've read are, 'Who are the players going to listen to, Hitch or me?' " Yeo said. "My comment to that is it doesn't really matter as long as the message is the same from us. I've fully committed myself 100 percent to my job. My role is to help him. I want to win a Stanley Cup this year."
Yeo is excited to learn from one of the best. He feels he has always been a good tactician, but watching Hitchcock, he realizes there can be growth as a leader and how to deal with players.
Hitchcock, 64, recalls how his GM in Dallas, Bob Gainey, was somebody he relied on to learn as a young head coach in 1996. "What Bob did for me and my career and how much it helped, I feel I can do the same things for Mike," Hitchcock said.
Yeo, 43, also gets the luxury of pre-scouting the team he will eventually coach. He has a big, aggressive team that has gotten faster. Unlike Minnesota, he also has a pure scorer in Vladimir Tarasenko, 24, who has 77 goals the past two years.
But the classy Yeo would never slight the Wild, saying he loved the Wild's depth in scoring.
"They have a lot of guys that play the game right and a lot of guys that can contribute and be dangerous," Yeo said.
Yeo's living in an apartment in St. Louis. His wife is temporarily staying in Minnesota with their son, Kyler, who's a senior at Hill-Murray. Kyler is playing in the Elite League and will be one of two Pioneers captains this season. He hopes to play next season in the United States Hockey League.
After a whirlwind summer that saw Yeo interview for head coaching jobs, he feels like he has found the perfect situation. He's content and will always have gratitude to the Wild.
He feels like he'll be a better coach the second go-around, which might not be a good thing for his former club.
Short takes
Hitched up
Ken Hitchcock, in his final year as head coach with St. Louis, plans to hand over the reins to Mike Yeo next season.
"It has nothing to do with the in-season stuff," Hitchcock said. "It's about the offseason and whether I feel I can put in the work to get better. If you're in this business and you're unsure, you have an obligation to let the people know how you feel.
"We all have to be unselfish. For me, if I have any question at all, even 1 percent, you can't hide from it. So there was a little bit of a question mark and there continues to be, so when I said I'm not sure how much longer I can do this, we knew we should get a good, young guy in place."
Setoguchi back
Devin Setoguchi, traded by the Wild to Winnipeg in 2013, is making an NHL comeback after alcohol abuse. He signed a two-way deal with the Los Angeles Kings, who face the Wild on Tuesday, after playing last season in Switzerland.
Setoguchi told lakingsinsider.com, "It's still, for me, an every-day evaluation on my attitude, my work ethic, my play, my ability, so I'm just thankful to be here, but at the same time I know how important and how critical it is for me to push myself every day in order to get back."
Injuries hit
The list of long-term injuries to key players is already extensive: It includes L.A.'s Jonathan Quick and Marian Gaborik, Florida's Jonathan Huberdeau and Nick Bjugstad, Buffalo's Jack Eichel and St. Louis' Jaden Schwartz.
WILD'S WEEK AHEAD
Tuesday: 7 p.m. vs. Los Angeles
Thursday: 7 p.m. vs. Toronto
Saturday: 6 p.m. at New Jersey
All games on FSN
Player to watch: Auston Matthews, Toronto
No. 1 pick in June's draft, the Scottsdale, Ariz., native became the first to score four goals in his NHL debut (vs. Ottawa on Wednesday).
VOICES
"Can Auston Matthews get 320 goals? That should be the question."
Wild coach Bruce Boudreau instructing the media before his pregame press scrum Thursday
Michael Russo can be heard on 100.3-FM and seen on FSN • Blog: startribune.com/russo • Twitter: @russostrib • E-mail: mrusso@startribune.com
