St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - The St. Louis Blues relieved Davis Payne as head coach and replaced him with Ken Hitchcock, the team announced Sunday night.

Hitchcock signed a contract through the 2012-13 season.

The Blues have lost three of their last four games to fall to 6-7 on the young season.

Payne served as interim head coach for St. Louis during the 2009-10 season. He was named the 23rd head coach in team history and the youngest at age 39 that offseason, and led the team to a 38-33-11 record and an 11th place finish in the conference last season.

He ends his short tenure in St. Louis with a mark of 67-55-15.

The 59-year-old Hitchcock was last seen behind an NHL bench during the 2009-10 campaign in Columbus, which fired the veteran coach in mid-season.

Hitchcock led the Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup title in 1999 and owns a 534-350-88-70 career record. He coached Dallas from 1995-2002, Philadelphia for the next three-plus seasons, and Columbus from 2006-10.

11/06 22:43:35 ET