St. Louis Blues sign former Bruins star Marc Savard as an NHL coach

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The St. Louis Blues found another way to raid the toy chest of the Boston Bruins in the middle of the summer offseason.

After beating the B’s in a seven-game Stanley Cup Final series and forcing Patrice Bergeron to watch Ryan O’Reilly pick up all the hardware at the NHL Awards show last month, the Blues announced on Wednesday they had hired former Bruins center Marc Savard as a member of their NHL coaching staff for next season.

What’s next?

Are the Blues going to try and sign Ray Bourque to a one-day contract or create a photo shop campaign with Brad Marchand decked out in Blues gear on their Twitter account?

In all seriousness, the Blues could use some help in the skill department after finishing 15th in the NHL in goals scored (2.98 goals per game) and 10th on the power play (21.1 percent success rate), despite eventually hoisting the Stanley Cup.  

Blues head coach Craig Berube touted his experience playing with Savard during his 13-year NHL career where he posted 706 points in 807 regular-season games with the Rangers, Flames, Thrashers and Bruins.

“I was fortunate to play with Marc during my career and I'm very familiar with his passion and acumen for the game," said Berube. "He was a tremendous player and possesses an elite offensive mind. His addition to our staff will be a great benefit to our players and the organization.”

Certainly the Blues could be looking to boost their offense and their power-play strength with the addition of Savard, who always flashed a keen playmaking mind and flair for the creative during his time with the Black and Gold. Savard’s career was tragically cut short when he suffered a major concussion at the hands of a Matt Cooke cheap shot late in the 2009-10 regular season, and then never truly, fully recovered to be the player he was prior to that head injury.

The 42-year-old Savard had been working as a skills coach with the Peterborough Petes over the last few years as well as in the hockey media as an analyst for Hockey Night in Canada as well as Fan 590 in Toronto. Savard was at TD Garden just a couple of months ago when he returned to Boston as the B’s banner captain for Game 5 of the first-round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs that they eventually won in seven games.

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