ESPN NHL

Mike Kitchen took over as head coach of the St. Louis Blues with 21 games remaining, so he doesn't have much time to introduce drastic changes.

Kitchen served nearly six seasons as an assistant to Joel Quenneville, who was fired Feb. 24 after more than six seasons as the Blues coach. The two are close friends and share similar philosophies, so Kitchen doesn't have the inclination to introduce radical changes in an attempt to save the Blues' season.

"Joel and I go way back. We played together," Kitchen said Saturday before the Blues lost 2-0 at Vancouver. "Joel was with Marc (Canucks head coach Crawford) in St. John's (the Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate) when I was (an assistant) in Toronto, so we know each other's personalities and we weren't afraid to say, 'OK you know, did you ever think of this?' We'd give him the information, whether he wanted to use it or not that was his choice because he's got the final decision."

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