Playing career

A defensive defenceman, Kitchen played his amateur career with the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association, winning a Memorial Cup in 1975. He turned professional for the 1976-77 NHL season, serving a brief, 14-game apprenticeship Rhode Island Reds of the AHL, before making his NHL debut. Kitchen joined the Colorado Rockies in his first professional season, and spent his entire NHL career with the same franchise. The team moved to New Jersey after the 1981-82 NHL season, and Kitchen went on to play two more seasons for the New Jersey Devils. Kitchen was sent to the Maine Mariners of the AHL for the entire 1984-85 NHL season, and decided to retire following that season's conclusion.

Coaching career

Kitchen was hired as an assistant coach by the Newmarket Saints of the AHL for the 1988-89 season, and was subsequently hired for the same position by the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he spent eight seasons. He then left Toronto for the same position with the St. Louis Blues franchise, a position he held until his elevation to head coach halfway through the 2003-04 NHL season. The Blues struggled and were 9th place in the Western Conference when they fired Joel Quenneville and replaced him with Kitchen as head coach. However under Kitchen, they picked up their play and went 10-7-4 in the process to make the playoffs once again.

In the 2005-2006 NHL season, Mike Kitchen led a younger group of Blues to a 21-46-15 record. 2006-2007 started the same as the Blues stumbled out of the gate to a 7-17-4 mark. On December 11, 2006, after a seven-game losing streak, Kitchen was fired as head coach of the St. Louis Blues and replaced by former Los Angeles Kings head coach Andy Murray. Blues president John Davidson indicated that he would like Kitchen to remain with the organization in a different capacity.

At the end of that season, Kitch left the Blues to become an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers in 2007. He stayed with the club through the 2009-2010 season. With that contract having expired, on July 12, 2010 Mike agreed to a contract with the Chicago Blackhawks which saw him reunited with his good friend, head coach Joel Quenneville. Joel and Mike had coached together in St. Louis from 1998 - 2003, leading the Blues to a franchise record 114 points in 1999-2000 while winning the President’s Trophy. Together the two have never missed the playoffs.

The Hawks were fresh off their first Stanley Cup victory in 49 years. Kitch is now in his 6th season with the Hawks. Since arriving he has helped them win two more Stanley Cups, in 2012-2013 and in 2014-2015. With 3 Stanley Cup wins in 6 seasons the Blackhawks are considered by most to be a modern-day NHL dynasty.

In today’s NHL salary cap era, keeping successful teams together is virtually impossible. So, unfortunately, after each Cup win, the Blackhawks saw a large number of players leave and new talent had to be blended in successfully. The Blackhawks have consistently remained near the top of the league in penalty killing and most other key defensive statistics.

Coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season							Post season
		G	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	Finish	Result
STL	2003-04	21	10	7	4	0	(91)	2nd in Central	Lost in first round
STL	2005-06	82	21	46	-	15	57	5th in Central	Missed playoffs
STL	2006-07	28	7	17	-	4	(81)	3rd in Central	(fired)
Total		131	38	70	4	19

Transactions

• July 15, 1976 - Kitchen's rights transferred to Colorado after the franchise relocated
• June 30, 1982 - Kitchen's rights transferred to New Jersey after the franchise relocated

Awards

• 1975- OMJHL First All-Star Team
• 1975- Memorial Cup Tournament All-Star Team

[ Source: Wikipedia ]