Michael Russo's Sunday Insider: With no hard feelings

St. Louis Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong called at 3 p.m. on Nov. 6.

Ken Hitchcock was on the highway by 6:30 p.m.

The 59-year-old veteran coach, who took over the Blues that day, would have jumped as quickly in June if Wild GM Chuck Fletcher had called.

Fletcher instead went with now-38-year-old Mike Yeo. When Hitchcock missed on his chance to be the Wild coach, he wondered if his coaching career had officially ended.

"You know the way it works: Your time comes and goes," said Hitchcock, who got his first NHL gig in 1996 with the Dallas Stars and has won 540 regular-season games, 66 playoff games and a Stanley Cup since.

"You're not going to live in this malaise the rest of your life. I wasn't going to live my life waiting for the damn phone to ring."

Hitchcock felt he had a legit shot at the Wild job ... if Fletcher went outside the organization.

In 1996, Stars GM Bob Gainey could have gone 10 different directions to replace himself as coach. He went with Hitchcock, who spent 2 1/2 years with Kalamazoo.

Two years ago, Fletcher could have hired experienced Dave Tippett or Peter Laviolette. He went with Todd Richards.

This time, Fletcher chose Yeo, who had coached Houston for one year after being an assistant with the Pittsburgh Penguins for five, over more experienced Hitchcock and Craig MacTavish.

"I understood and respected that because in fairness, that was Ken Hitchcock in 1996," Hitchcock said.

Two months into Yeo's tenure, it looks like Fletcher has hit a home run.

After games, Yeo can convey exactly what went right or wrong and can dissect plays, goals or breakdowns. He can explain it for the layman to understand or for the hockey expert to absorb ("the F3" should have been here, not here).

Richards had to "look at the tape."

Yeo's practices are up-tempo and difficult. He and his staff have the ability to take problems in games and create drills to address them. And when he needs to lighten the mood, Yeo gets the players howling.

Yeo just seems to have an incredible sense of the pulse of this team. In L.A. earlier this month after a blowout loss, Yeo said he was "embarrassed," how we'll really get to find out now how much leadership and character the Wild had, how "winners respond to adversity."

Yeo said: "I'm glad we play in less than 24 hours. Can't wait to see how we respond."

If the Wild laid an egg, Yeo said a dozen things that could have been regurgitated to make the Wild look bad. But he had such confidence that the Wild would respond. By the end of the first period, the Wild led 3-0 and has been on a roll since.

Yeo's communication skills are impressive. His players adore him and play hard for him.

Simply, he's pushing all the right buttons. Wild players have bought in so visibly that even Hitchcock -- the man Yeo beat out for the job -- sees it and praises it.