Bruce Boudreau just signed to coach the Minnesota Wild for four seasons at $2.76 million per.
Todd McLellan, Dave Hakstol and Dan Bylsma all signed on for five seasons with their respective teams when they became available last summer.
Mike Babcock got a record eight years in Toronto. Chicago’s Joel Quenneville inked a three-year extension (at a reported $6 million per) that will guarantee him paycheques through 2020.
What a time for NHL bench bosses to be alive.
And yet Ken Hitchcock, whose contract with the St. Louis Blues expires this summer, insists that he only wants a contract through 2016-17.
Given his perference, every summer will be free agency.
“I scare myself because I think if I take long-term deal, I’m gonna get sloppy,” Hitchcock told Hockey Central at Noon Thursday, hours after guiding his Blues to the Western Conference final. “I want to stay on one-year deals.”
In addition to getting the Blues over the hump this spring, the accomplished Hitchcock, 64, already has a Stanley Cup ring (with the 1999 Dallas Stars), two Olympic gold medals with Team Canada, a Jack Adams Trophy (2012), and 757 NHL wins.
Surely, he could land a contract significantly better in term and dollars this summer than the one-year, $1.2-million deal he’s wrapping up now.
“I don’t want to be sitting ripping off a team and taking money when I’m not doing anything. I just feel comfortable taking one-year deals to be honest with you,” said Hitchcock, who has frequently consulted baseball’s Tony La Russa on the topic.
“Right now I coach because I love it. I don’t need to coach, and I don’t need to work. I’ve been so lucky to be in this business.”
Negotiating advantage: Blues GM Doug Armstrong.
