The Blue Jackets? coaching staff is in the throes of change.

Associate coach Dean Blais, hired away from the University of North Dakota two years ago, will come off the bench and work in player development, it was announced yesterday. The team and Blais, 55, cited family reasons for the reassignment.

"I think it?s the right time to step back from the daily demands of coaching," Blais said in a statement.

Taking Blais? place is Gary Agnew, 45, who for six years has coached the team?s American Hockey League affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y.

"I was a coach and GM in the (Ontario Hockey League) for 10 years, a coach in the minors for six years and this is the next step," Agnew said. "I?m real excited about doing it. I just hope I can help (coach Gerard Gallant and assistant Gord Murphy) take this team to the next level. I?ve had a lot of these players in Syracuse, so I think it?s going to be a pretty comfortable fit."

Also yesterday, it was announced that goaltending coach Rick Wamsley is heading to St. Louis, where he?ll join Blues coach Mike Kitchen as a bench assistant.

"It was time," Wamsley said. "It?s more of a role thing than anything else. I guess on the depth chart, people are ahead of me (in Columbus), and rightly so. I?m at an age (47) where I?ve either got to try (to move up) or get comfortable with what I?m doing."

He?s going to try to move up. He has worked with Kitchen in Toronto, and they are friends.

"I?m going to be an assistant coach with the big team all year," Wamsley said, "and I?ll have all the responsibilities that come with it."

Wamsley and Gallant have been with the Blue Jackets since the team?s inception.

marace@dispatch.com?