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ST. LOUIS -- Joel Quenneville made his mark in six-plus seasons behind the St. Louis Blues' bench.

		Tuesday, Feb. 24 The Blues' dismissal of Joel Quenneville is a perfect example of change for the sake of change. I'm shocked that he's been fired. I think Quenneville is a victim of firing as a marketing tool. The Coyotes' dismissal of Bob Francis earlier Tuesday is in the same category. For most NHL teams, their fan base and the live gate are the major sources of revenue. Quenneville's dismissal is an attempt by the Blues to shock the players into short-term performance to make the playoffs -- which is where the big revenue is. This I can tell you: I expect Quenneville to set a record for the shortest time in the unemployment line. He's an excellent coach, tactically and philosophically. He faced challenges this season, including less-than-stellar goaltending and injuries to key players. A logical place for Quenneville to end up is anyplace where an NHL coach is needed. It could be a team that has yet to fire its coach this year: perhaps Washington or Florida? Or how about the New York Rangers? Quenneville will be a good fit wherever he goes. I truly believe that he's one of the best coaches in the game.

He's the franchise's winningest coach and was the NHL's coach of the year in 2000. But after St. Louis' torrid start and high expectations, victories were harder to come by during the past two months.

The Blues are scrambling to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time in a quarter century, the longest streak in professional sports. So, general manager Larry Pleau decided it was time for a change and fired Quenneville on Tuesday.

The Blues replaced him with assistant Mike Kitchen, who was given a multiyear contract and the challenge of reviving the listless Blues.

"I think Joel did everything he could," Pleau said. "I just felt that the way the team had been playing, that a change was needed -- and a new face.

"In these positions, you make decisions, and I felt it was time. I didn't think it was going to get back on track."

The Blues are in ninth place in the Western Conference with a 29-23-7-2 record -- only the top eight teams make the playoffs -- and are just 9-18-5 since Dec. 20. They have won just four of their past 16 games, a skid that helped seal Quenneville's fate.

Earlier Tuesday, the Phoenix Coyotes fired Bob Francis and replaced him with assistant Rick Bowness. Phoenix has won just two of its past 14 games and, at 20-24-15-3, is in last place in the Pacific Division and 13th in the Western Conference.

Kitchen, 48, has been with the Blues as an assistant since 1998 after eight seasons as an assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"It's a hard job to take, when you lose a good friend and coach," Kitchen said, whose first game will be Thursday at Colorado, the third game of St. Louis' five-game trip.

Pleau refused to reveal the terms of Kitchen's deal.

Quenneville took over as Blues coach on Jan. 6, 1997, and led St. Louis to at least 40 wins in five of his six full seasons with the team. The Blues won 307 regular-season games during his tenure but went just 34-34 in the postseason, including a trip to the 2001 Western Conference finals -- where they lost to Colorado in five games.

In the first round of the playoffs against Vancouver last season, the Blues blew a 3-1 series lead for the first time in franchise history and were bounced. It was the third one-series-and-out during Quenneville's tenure.

The Blues, who never have won a Stanley Cup, started this season 20-6-3-1 and with big expectations only to encounter their recent slide. Quenneville got his 300th win Jan. 1 against the New York Rangers.

Season-ending injuries to defensemen Al MacInnis, the team captain, and Barret Jackman, winner of last year's Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie, didn't help.

"Somebody's got to take the heat when the team's not playing very well, and it's pretty tough to fire a whole team," said Chris Pronger, the MVP and Norris Trophy winner as the league's top defenseman in 2000. "Obviously, the coach is the easiest guy to let go, but at the same time we as players haven't played very well."

Pronger said that "at times we seemed lackadaisical out there and not really put our best foot forward. For Joel to take the heat for that is kind of sad."

Pleau said there was plenty of blame to go around.

"Would I have liked to have done better? Definitely," Pleau said. "I'd like to have done more for Joel. I also feel there's enough talent there."

The Blues said goaltending coach Keith Allain will serve as an assistant for the rest of the season.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press