The Blues fire head coach Ken Hitchcock, name Mike Yeo as replacement

Ken Hitchcock made it clear last summer that he'd be stepping away from behind the St. Louis Blues bench at season's end. He likely didn't expect that his tenure would come to an end even sooner than that.

On Wednesday, the Blues relieved Hitchcock of his duties and named Mike Yeo their new head coach.

Hitchcock went 248-124-41 over five-plus seasons as coach of the Blues, good enough for second all-time in franchise victories. The team made the playoffs in each of those five seasons but didn't have outstanding postseason success. The furthest they advanced under Hitchcock was the Western Conference Final last season.

This year, the Blues have struggled. They're not out of playoff contention just yet (they sit eighth in the conference) but are coming off a rough January in which they went 5-8-0. The team's shortcomings don't necessarily fall on Hitchcock, though. The team has gotten very bad goaltending all year long -- they don't have a goalie on the roster with a save percentage above .900 -- and are 28th in the league in goals-against per game.

After his contract expired at the conclusion of last season, Hitchcock signed a new one-year deal and said he would walk away at the end of the 2016-2017 season. St. Louis hired former Wild head coach Mike Yeo to serve as an assistant coach for a year and eventual be Hitchcock's successor. That day has come earlier than expected.