Yeo in STL

[Doug Glatt]

I have some reservations about STL players now that Yeo is in charge.

Minnesota was a fantasy wasteland when he coached there. Immediately after he left it was like the entire team exploded. Almost everyone on the team had a career year aside from Parise.

Is anyone aside from me worried that Yeo is going to throw a wet blanket on STL's fantasy production? I have a bad feeling that I cant seem to shake off.

[Polecon]

Short answer is yes I think, but not as much as you might expect because he is replacing Hitchcock who was himself a coach that ran below average offensive teams (however successful). Just some quick calculations for the period 2011/12 through 2015/16 for Hitchcock's Blues against Yeo's Wild (assuming talent level is similar), Yeo averaged 2.448 goals per game; Hitchcock 2.716 for a difference of 0.268 goals per game or 22 goals over the season. Not much of a difference.

Side note, this difference might be partly explained by the power play where Hitchcock Blues were regularly stronger than Yeo's Wild by an average about 2%. Also, Yeo is a strong proponent of the 4-1 pp, and riding one guy (Suter in Minny) for a massive percentage of PP ice. So there is value in questioning Parayko's projections in the short term. There should be little difference on the goaltending though.

I'm not sure if the change in the Wild's numbers in 16/17 are a direct result of post-Yeo (a lot of breakout players there), but it certainly was a factor.

Just a scratch on the surface here, but I think you are right to be concerned