Forget about Hitch's "system".
It was his inability to shape the room which became evident.
He was a good coach for the wrong time and room.
Major credit to Richards and his coaches, and the seriousness brought by JD/KEK.
Was it his inability or because of group of "young punks" thaght they could outscore the opposition, they convinced the franchise player of the same thing, and finally ownership and management bought in. So Hitch was canned because noone supported him from above (being able to say Brassard you don't want to play D, goodbye).
So next thing you know we end up with a coach with some pond hockey offensive scheme that set us back even further in our rebuild. Also keep in mind a couple coaches turned us down because they looked at our resources/players and understood what ownership/managment wanted to do (open things up, try to outscore the opponent) and knew it was a disaster.
So I don't blame Hitch, I blame the players and ownership and management who backed them up.
And yes I understand Hitch reinvented himself slightly in St Louis but his system works if you have the right players. Also JD was with the Blues when Hitch was hired there so if Hitch has a bad system, JD must not see it either.