Springfield Job Was A No-Brainer For Steve Ott

ST. LOUIS – It happened in an instant and wasn’t even something that Steve Ott wanted to consider.

One moment, the then-St. Louis Blues associate coach was with the team in Edmonton when he was asked on a dime if he’d like to take on the role as head coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League, some 2,500-plus miles away.

“It happened after the Edmonton game and was asked if I would consider taking this job and after speaking with my family, my wife right after the meeting, we talked for about two minutes and I thought the decision was an easy one,” Ott said via Zoom on Monday. “It’s a great opportunity for myself, but not only that, I get to stay in an organization that I truly love and to help develop our young guys with the development side of the coaching, it’s really exciting for myself. It’s a great opportunity.”

Two minutes. That’s it.

A career that lasted into a ninth year as an assistant and ultimately, an associate coach in a place the Summerside, Prince Edward Island native would call home, suddenly picks up and embarks on a new challenge.

But ultimately, the 43-year-old Ott’s goal is to become a head coach, and although this may have been a ‘Whoa’ moment, it’s one that came with no regrets and no time to ponder.

“It is quite a change,” Ott admitted. “First of all, Mr. (Tom) Stillman, ‘Army’, ‘Steener’, the fans, the players have been so special to me for overall these years. When you get asked if you’d consider that opportunity, I take it as a big honor. It’s not an easy lift for everybody. It’s a situation that I love being a part of obviously the NHL club but to stay here and be a part of the growing of the future, I think that’s a job I don’t take light or easy.”

Ott feels the time was right. He’s been working with and under a number of coaches in St. Louis who have been successful and/or won, like Craig Berube (2019 Stanley Cup champions), Claude Julien and now Jim Montgomery, who traded messages with Ott after his first win with the Thunderbirds, a come-from-behind 4-3 overtime win on Friday against Toronto in which Springfield trailed 3-1 after two periods.

“I’m really excited for him,” Montgomery said. “You can tell he’s jacked up. The text messages are flying back and forth. That’s natural. He’s going to be an excellent head coach. He has all the qualities of understanding the feel for the dressing room, the feel for the players, understanding the Xs and Os of the game and understanding momentum in a game, the players that create momentum and players that don’t.

“I just told him how much I believe he’s ready for this and how good he will be at it because that’s what I truly believe in my heart.”

Ott has interviewed for vacant head coaching positions in the NHL in the past but felt he wasn’t ready for those challenges … until now. But this steppingstone will serve its purpose in getting him ready for it when the opportunity arises again.

“Yes to be honest with you, I’ve had multiple NHL head coaching job interviews and I thought they went extremely well,” Ott said. “I think there’s one part of the puzzle piece that’s missing is the head coaching experience. You get down and you do well in these interviews and you’re right down to the end and that final card is something you need to have, that last feather in your cap. It’s something that you have to earn it as well. That’s where my mindset is, is earning those opportunities and definitely want to be a head coach in the NHL someday.

“It’s something that I’ve kind of been growing as an assistant to an associate coach. I watch obviously the head coaches very closely over these last (nine) years in St. Louis, how they deal with their staff. Not only that, but the medical and training staff as well and the managers. I’ve kind of just been observing for a long time waiting for this type of opportunity so that when I have it now, I would be ready for it. To be honest since I’ve got here, it’s been a great energy around the dressing room, it’s an exciting place right now. Everybody’s on the same page of what the expectations are from the organization from top down, especially where we are down here. We want to make sure our players are looked after.

“I’m very thankful for ‘Army’ giving me those opportunities over the years to take those interviews. It was more the experience that you were getting from those interviews. They’re likely Zoom calls with the preparation of your systems, how would you run the team, the communication, your culture aspects. They’re very, very detailed and when you present those, you’re just continuing to grab this valuable experience. I’m lucky for those opportunities. It wouldn’t have happened without the leadership from the top allowing me to do that. When you get those opportunities, you just continue to build yourself as a coach. When those moments come and it is your turn to be a head coach, that you’re ready. I wasn’t ready the first few years for that opportunity even after winning, wasn’t even close. It’s the 10 years later to get your opportunity to know that when you do, you want to be very thorough and extremely ready to seize that moment.”

Learning from Montgomery has been a great experience, and now that Ott serves as the voice of the next generation of Blues players, there will be a great pipeline of communication there.

“’Monty’ has been a mentor to me,” Ott said. “I’ve taken a lot of great aspects from him. He’s a Jack Adams-winning coach and I’m lucky enough to work beside him. For the most part, I think we see the game very similar and it makes it very easy to talk hockey. It’s a constant talking, text messaging, phone calls, picking each other’s brain on situational play. Not only that, it’s great because I can give the development of the young guys down here.”

So who will the Thunderbirds be getting after Steve Konowalchuk?

“I wanted to be open and honest with them from the get-go,” Ott said. “There was a feel in the room no different when you’re struggling in the standings, it’s a tough place sometimes to want to come to the rink, you want to continue to get better and you just want information and why and how can we help. I wanted to make sure that we were going to focus on the details of our game without the puck first and that was the first week. This upcoming week is not going to be a training camp but a teaching camp. It’s things that our young players and depth players need to learn. It’s the game management, it’s not going around pylons, it’s the experiences that I’ve learned throughout the game is line changes, is setting up the next shift. All those little areas of the game that go unnoticed is something that I want to really help with them. So when they do get that opportunity, it’s seamless towards the NHL.”

There’s no telling at the moment where this will lead after the season ends, Ott said. They’ll revisit things in the summer, but for the time being, Ott, whose family will stay behind in St. Louis with kids in school and playing hockey, just wants to focus on the here and the now, and that’s trying to get the Thunderbirds back on track.

“The goal is to get this team and prospects playing as good as we can, including with that if we do so and sneak into a playoff spot here in the next little while, I think that would be a great ending to this season if we can continue to get as many games as we can here,” Ott said.

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