I guess it depends on how you define fail. He never won in St Louis. They were an expansion team at that point, but he did take them to the finals in each of their first three seasons. Then again, the NHL put all the expansion teams into one division, so one of them had to earn the right to lose to Montreal.
It's a lot like the Pittsburgh situation. They sucked for a long time at just the right time to draft a lot of talent. You have to wonder though if they would have kept their big two and also added to that roster if he had still been around.