Team's associate coach will assume role for remainder of season after firing of Steve Konowalchuk At Springfield
The St. Louis Blues made a coaching change ... at the American Hockey League level.
The team announced on Monday that Steve Konowalchuk has been fired as coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds and that Blues associate coach Steve Ott will assume the role of head coach for the remainder of the season.
Konowalchuk, 52, was in his second season as head coach of the Thunderbirds and has recorded an overall record of 47-50-4-8 (.486 points-percentage) during his time in the organization, including a record of 13-18-4-2 (.432) this season. They are on a four-game losing streak and currently sit last in the Atlantic Division.
Current Thunderbirds assistant coach Chad Wiseman will serve as the interim head coach for Monday's game against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton until Ott can join the team later this week.
“The Blues want to thank Steve Konowalchuk for his contributions to our organization over the last two years and wish him all the best moving forward,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said in a statement. “We’re looking forward to Steve Ott taking over in Springfield to push our young players to get better every day and further their development path to become St. Louis Blues. The current staff will take over his duties with the Blues for the rest of this season.”
The 42-year-old Ott has been with the Blues for nine seasons after first joining the staff as an assistant in the summer of 2017. The Blues are 350-244-74 (.579 points-percentage) since his arrival, including winning a Stanley Cup in 2019.
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