By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The St. Louis Blues, who currently rank as hockey's worst team, fired coach Mike Kitchen Monday night and replaced him with Andy Murray, a former L.A. Kings coach.
Team president John Davidson says Murray received a long-term contract after negotiations in New York.
The Blues are 7-17-4 and have lost seven in a row. Murray will be on the bench for tonight's game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
St. Louis hasn't won since earning consecutive shootout victories at Columbus and Detroit on November 22nd and 24th. They have earned one point during the slide.
"We realize we're a team that's got a long way to go," Davidson said Monday. "We just felt we needed to take a step like this to move forward."
Davidson said he wants Kitchen, hired on an interim basis in February 2004 when Joel Quenneville was fired, to stay with the organization. But he said it was time to make a change.
Last season was Kitchen's only full campaign as head coach, and the team finished last with an NHL-low 57 points and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1979.
Despite the talent added after the new ownership group led by David Checketts, the former head of the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden, took over in late June, the team has continued to struggle. The Blues have yet to win back fans disgruntled by the sale process, which came on the heels of the NHL lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season.
St. Louis is last in the league this season in attendance, drawing an average of 11,142 fans or 58.6% of capacity for its 15 home games. And the team has scored 65 goals, fewest in the NHL.
"You look at this thing and we realize we're a team that's trying to rebuild," Davidson said. "We just want more, that's all.
"We'll see where it goes with Andy. We need a more concerted effort."
Kitchen expressed frustration with the state of the team after ceremonies to retire Brett Hull's No. 16 jersey resulted in a desultory 5-1 loss at home to the Red Wings on Dec. 5.
"How can you not get ready for tonight's game?" he said that night. "You just look around. You've got a full building, there's a lot of electricity in the air, and they're not ready to play? Come on!"
Davidson said the move didn't surprise Kitchen, who joined the organization in 1998 and spent 6 1/2 seasons as an assistant coach. Before that, Kitchen was a Toronto Maple Leafs assistant for nine seasons.
"I'm sure Mike's had a tough time sleeping for a couple of weeks," Davidson said. "You could see it on his face, how much the guy cares."
Murray is the Kings' career leader with 215 coaching victories and 480 games, but was let go with 12 games to go last season when Los Angeles was in a playoff race.