St. Louis Blues President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced today that Steve Ott will assume the role of head coach for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, for the remainder of the season.
Ott replaces Steve Konowalchuk, who has been relieved of his duties.
Current Thunderbirds assistant coach Chad Wiseman will serve as the interim head coach for tonight’s Thunderbirds game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 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,” said Armstrong. “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.”
Ott, 42, has nine seasons behind the Blues’ bench after first joining the staff as an assistant in the summer of 2017. During his tenure, the Summerside, PEI, native has helped the Blues compile a 350-244-74 (.579 points-percentage) regular-season record and four appearances in the postseason. In 2018-19, just his second season as a coach, Ott played an instrumental role in helping the Blues make a historic rise in the standings during the regular season, ultimately capturing the 2019 Stanley Cup championship.
As a player, Ott enjoyed a 14-year NHL career, including 122 games with the Blues from 2014-2016. Overall, he accumulated 288 points in 848 career regular-season games, including stints with Dallas, Buffalo, St. Louis, Detroit, and Montreal.
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.
