Ken Hitchcock, Blues Agree on New Contract: Latest Details and Reaction

After leading the St. Louis Blues to the Western Conference Final, Ken Hitchcock will return as the team's head coach for the 2016-17 season. 

The team announced Tuesday that the 64-year-old signed a one-year extension after coaching under a one-year contract throughout the 2015-16 campaign. Hitchcock later told reporters that it's his last one-year deal, and that he will end his coaching career after next season.

Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was the first to report that the former Jack Adams Award winner would be back for a sixth season with the Blues.

Hitchcock has won almost two-thirds of his regular-season games since joining the Blues, going 224-103-36. Winning in the playoffs has been his Achilles' heel, however.

Even though the veteran coach has led St. Louis to the postseason in each of his five years at the helm, he won just a single playoff series prior to 2015-16.

Hitchcock and the Blues finally reached the Western Conference Final this season, but they fell short of the Stanley Cup Final once again when they were eliminated by the San Jose Sharks.

Due to the team's inability to get over that final hurdle during Hitchcock's tenure, former Blues forward Andy McDonald blasted the decision to re-sign him:

"

@allsmandrew Hitch back? Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein#poorfans

— Andy McDonald (@10_AMac) May 31, 2016"

Hitchcock is fourth on the all-time regular-season head coaching wins list with 757. Although his playoff success has been somewhat limited in recent years, he has reached the postseason in 14 of his 20 years as an NHL head coach with the Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets and Blues.

He also won a Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1999 and led them to the Stanley Cup Final once again the following season.

While only those within the locker room truly know the players' perception of Hitchcock, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo's comments following the season suggest that there is respect for the coach even if he isn't necessarily beloved, per Rutherford:

"

You aren't always going to love your boss, right? 'Hitch' is a competitor, he knows how to push the right buttons. It's not easy to accept it in the moment. But when you look back and look at the overall picture now of what he was able to do, obviously he's doing it for a reason. He's had success in this league for so long for a reason. Sometimes you don't always agree with it, but it works.

"

The Blues are easily among the NHL's most talented teams, and while they have a chance to contend for the Stanley Cup once again in 2016-17, they could face some challenges.

Key forwards David Backes and Troy Brouwer are both set to become unrestricted free agents, and replacing their production will be difficult should they opt to sign elsewhere.

St. Louis is an extremely deep team at every position, though, and reaching the Western Conference Final represents the most positive building block it has had during Hitchcock's tenure.

The pieces are in place to reach a Stanley Cup Final from a personnel perspective, but the onus is now entirely on Hitchcock to prove he is the right person to get the job done behind the bench.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.