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Son of Blues general manager will steer the Peoria Rivermen through AHL waters

Friday, June 17, 2005

BY DAVE EMINIAN

OF THE JOURNAL STAR

His son, Steve Pleau, officially began his reign as associate head coach of the American Hockey League team Thursday, joining Don Granato on the bench as the Blues signed both to one-year contracts.

The Blues also made director of pro scouting Kevin McDonald the general manager of hockey operations for the Rivermen, introduced the team's first three players, and unveiled the team's new jerseys as the pieces came together for Peoria's AHL organization.

"I never thought I'd do something like this, but if (Steve) was another employee, someone else, we'd look at him and we wouldn't let him get by us," Larry Pleau said of his decision to appoint associate head coaches in Peoria. "He's earned this chance."

Steve Pleau knew exactly where he'd end up all along.

"I've been around rinks, watching my father coach, watching NHL players, since I was 3," he said. "Coaching is what I've always wanted to do. It's what I knew I'd be. The fact that I'm coaching for my father is no extra pressure for me."

Pleau spent the last seven seasons as assistant coach for the Blues' top farm team at Worcester, which went defunct this spring after Peoria co-owners Bruce Saurs and Anne Griffith bought the franchise and signed a 10-year affiliation deal with St. Louis to bring class-AAA hockey back to Peoria.

He took over as interim head coach late in the 2004-05 season when Granato - the former ECHL Rivermen coach who led Peoria to a Kelly Cup in 2000 -was diagnosed with Hodgkins.

Granato is battling through treatments, and Larry Pleau calls him "a true fighter." The Blues have no timetable for Granato's return to the Peoria bench, saying their only concern right now is for the coach's health.

In the meantime, Steve Pleau will launch his head coaching career.

"We're father and son, but he understands the business we're in and what our objectives are," Larry Pleau said.

That would be to win, and develop players for the NHL team. And not in that order, although Steve Pleau doesn't see them as separate items.

"Winning and developing are one and the same," said the 32-year-old, former University of New Hampshire winger. "I think that's been the tradition in Peoria over the years, and it fits certain ways the St. Louis Blues organization likes to operate."

Sitting nearby, McDonald, 40, the Blues superscout, filed a report on Peoria's coach.

"Steve has been building toward this his whole life," said McDonald, who scouted for the Rangers a decade ago and helped put together Hartford's AHL champions in 2000. "He watched his father work in the NHL and AHL, he played the game, and he grew up as a coach-in-waiting. He'll do well."

Worcester missed the playoffs in 2004-05 for the first time in 11 seasons, and most of that team will be coming to Peoria.

Those IceCats went 39-34-7 and finished fifth in a division that was professional hockey's toughest. It included Manchester (110 points), Hartford (106 points) and Lowell (100 points).

"There were a lot of reasons why we missed the playoffs," McDonald said. "Both our goaltenders had a year where they went through a stretch where they were hot, then a stretch where they were hurt, then one where they didn't play as well as they wanted to. But I can't count the number of games where we only scored two goals or fewer for them.

"We didn't have NHL guys down during the lockout for most of the season, like those powerful teams we were facing. We lost some good offensive players to injuries, like Mike Glumac (eye), John Pohl (broken finger) and Jeff Hoggan.

"And of the 28 teams in the AHL, there were 10 goaltenders who would not have been down there playing if the NHL had been operating."

Steve Pleau, then, will have a chance to take the Rivermen where the IceCats couldn't go.

"I wasn't that surprised that we missed the playoffs," Pleau said. "Our division was so strong, competitive . . . not making the playoffs will be fresh in our minds. We're off to a great start today. The kind of support we're seeing in Peoria, we missed the last couple of years in Worcester.

"We feel like we're coming into a great hockey town here."

RIVER READINGS: St. Louis Blues director of scouting and Rivermen general manager of hockey operations Kevin McDonald says restricted free agent defenseman Trevor Byrne will be re-signed. . . . Enforcer Brett Scheffelmaier is under contract, as is forward Brian Collins, defenseman Brendan Buckley and most of the players from Worcester's 2004-05 team. . . . Three guys who are not under contract and might not return are defenseman Aris Brimanis, right wing Igor Valeev (a Group II free agent), and winger Brian McCullough. . . . McDonald says an influx of European players from recent Blues drafts are not due to turn pro until 2006-07. . . . Blues GM Larry Pleau nearly was hipchecked by Blues legend and former Rivermen coach Bob Plager when the GM, lauding Plager's 1991 IHL Rivermen champions and their pro hockey record 18-game win streak, referred to Peoria's team having won 15 in a row. "No, it was a little more than that," Plager quickly called out, drawing laughs from the luncheon audience.