Ken Hitchcock continues to search for that fuel, that edge he has sought most of his adult life. He has longed for that edge since he worked for United Cycle Sporting Goods in Edmonton, Alberta.
Hitchcock wasn't supposed to be here. The Blues' legendary coach is the ultimate outsider, a man who lost his father at 14 and fell into despair.
He was given a reprieve in 1972 when he was hired at United Cycle, where owner Wilf Brooks became more than a boss.
"He became like my dad," Hitchcock said. "My dad died when I was really young, and he got me out of the ditch. I was in the ditch and he got me out."
It has been 50 years since Ray Hitchcock died, and his 64-year-old son still misses him daily.
"He was my best friend. He took me everywhere," Ken Hitchcock said of his father. "I was a lazy, skilled athlete. He took me everywhere. I never wanted to go anywhere, and then when I got there and he pushed me into the pool or on the field I stayed forever. I was lazy."
As Hitchcock dabs at the tears welling in his eyes, it's jarring to hear him describe himself as lazy. He is anything but lazy.
A lazy kid doesn't pull himself out of the sporting goods retail business in Sherwood Park, Canada, all the way to prominence as one of the greatest NHL coaches of his era, if not all-time.
A lazy kid takes the easy route, just as a lazy coach would be willing to rest on his resume as he cashes in checks. Lazy folks don't spend most of July at conferences or coaching clinics, as Hitchcock did this summer.
A lazy coach doesn't install a new defensive style of play a season after the Blues fell two victories shy of the Stanley Cup Finals. Yet, that's exactly what Hitchcock and his staff were working on during their first full week back from their offseason break.
"For a coach, when you're secure in the way you play and then all of a sudden you're going to make changes, it's pretty dramatic," he said. "Coaches don't view offensive changes as dramatic, but when you're changing things defensively most coaches view that as pretty dramatic.
"We are going to change the way we play defensively, based on our personnel and based on the way we need to play to get the puck back quicker."
After losing forwards David Backes and Troy Brouwer to free agency this offseason, Hitchcock and new associate head coach Mike Yeo decided to install a more aggressive defensive mentality in hopes of getting the puck back quicker and keeping it longer and more often.
Hitchcock and his coaches put all the zones of the plan together early last week after gathering for only the third time since three new coaches were hired. They first gathered as a group in June at the NHL draft and then came together again in July during the development camp.
The coaches all returned to St. Louis to begin preseason preparations in the penultimate week of August. Hitchcock and the coaches wanted to present the new defensive style to new captain Alex Pietrangelo and the four assistant captains _ Alexander Steen, Kevin Shattenkirk, Paul Stastny and Vladimir Tarasenko _ before delivering it to the whole team in preseason.
Pietrangelo signed off on it Thursday morning after going through a video presentation with Yeo. Hitchcock and Steen discussed it on Tuesday night. Steen will be given a video presentation of the new style next week.
"There's no point in putting it together if the players don't buy into it," Hitchcock said.
As if on cue, Pietrangelo knocked on Hitchcock's door before leaving the practice facility at the Mills while Hitchcock visited with a reporter in his office Thursday afternoon.
"Do you still need to talk with me? Or is Mike's video the video?" Pietrangelo asked as he poked his head into Hitchcock's office.
"Mike's good," Hitchcock replied. "You're good on that? You signed off on it? You're 100 percent?"
Pietrangelo nodded his head again.
"We're good to go," Hitchcock said. "I'm going to do the same thing with 'Steener.' I talked to Steener. I'm going to present to him on Tuesday. He's got the forwards' responsibility. You've got the defensemen's responsibility. You signed off. You guys are accountable."
Pietrangelo smiled, shook his head again and closed the door.
The idea and plan are Hitchcock's and the coaches'. In that brief exchange, you could envision Hitchcock back at United Cycle. He's a salesman who puts in the work to get the edge and then sells his plan.
This is the mentality he began developing after Brooks hired him in 1972.
"Over time they became like my family," he said of the sporting goods store owner. "He became like a father/friend. I became very close to the family. They were a real part in reorganizing my life, the discipline of reorganizing my life.
"The Brooks family gave me a home. They included me in everything they did, but in the meantime he taught me how to make it a special place to do business. We had to make it a place where you have to come and buy. The prices were the same. I learned more from business than I have from coaching clinics."
Hitchcock's surprising rise is well known by now. He spent 12 years coaching midget hockey at Sherwood Park, where he developed his reputation as a strong coach before he was hired by the Western Hockey League's Kamloops Blazers in 1984.
At Sherwood Park he developed one player who played full-time in the NHL. He's more proud to note that among his former Sherwood Park players, there are 33 doctors, 21 dentists and nine high-level musicians.
Hitchcock found the edge at United Cycle by attending the games of the softball and hockey teams who bought from him. He added that personal touch. In the NHL, he has sought the edge by attending offseason clinics.
To that end, he left St. Louis on July 10 to begin his search. He went to three conferences/clinics in British Columbia; Washington, D.C.; and Alberta on July 15, July 22 and Aug. 4. Two of the clinics were devoted to hockey, and one was a leadership summit.
Hitchcock announced last May 31 that he would accept only a one-year deal to return to the Blues because he didn't have the energy to seek the edge in the offseason after the 2016-17 season.
After 757 career victories, one Stanley Cup title and eight division titles, he remains more comfortable talking about today and tomorrow than his past successes as a coach. He's too busy looking for an edge to appreciate his resume.
Because he never played at a high level, he has used the offseason clinics and summits to help gain advantages.
"To me it's about respect," he said. "I never take that for granted. I feel like that's something I want to earn every day and every summer, but I didn't learn that from hockey. I learned that from business."
