Dreger Report: Hitchcock isn’t done with hockey just yet St Louis Blues coach opens the door to the possibility that this may not be his final season behind the bench, Darren Dreger writes

At the end of May, Ken Hitchcock announced this would be his final season as an NHL head coach. He vowed there would be no farewell tour, and, at the time, he seemed at peace with a decision he believed was best for him and the St Louis Blues.

I've covered Hitchcock teams since the 1980s when he had great success coaching the WHL's Kamloops Blazers and have always been impressed by his boundless energy and passion for the game. I, like many others, believed Hitch would have to be dragged from the bench, kicking and screaming,and didn't expect he would leave coaching on his own terms — at least, not yet.

This week, I circled back to check in on the Blues and to see how the 64-year-old coach was managing his final NHL training camp. We chatted about the depth of his team and some of the things he likes and doesn't like about his roster before the conversation inevitably got deeper. My search was for an emotional storyline; to talk about the things he will miss most about coaching in the NHL. Instead, Hitchcock opened the door, just a crack, to the possibility this may not be his final season. While his intention to step away remains the same, he won't know for sure until the end of the season.

“That [coming back]