Well that didn’t last long, or end well.
The Columbus Blue Jackets fired their head coach Brad Larsen less than a day after the club lost its final game of the season on 14 April.
Johnny Gaudreau is needed in a greater, more impactful, presence this season as the Blue Jackets navigate an even newer coach – Photo by Jack Lima
On 1 July, Mike Babcock was hired as the new bench boss.
On 17 September, Babcock was gone in the amidst of a scandal over sharing of personal photos, cellular devices, and Blue Jackets players.
“I am very disappointed,” president of hockey operations John Davidson said. “We went through a process earlier this summer prior to hiring Mike Babcock as our head coach. But we got it wrong, and that’s on us.
“I can promise you we will learn from this moving forward. I also understand the criticism we are getting. It is deserved. All we can do now is learn from it and do everything we can to help our players and coaches get ready for the season.”
This week, the Blue Jackets ownership group released a statement concerning the scandal.
“We do not anticipate further changes to our hockey leadership team at this time. Additional disruptions would be detrimental to our players and coaches as they prepare for the opening of training camp in two days. We will continue to have regular communications with our hockey leadership and are looking forward to an exciting season.”
Some ought to be buffing up their resumes.
“I don’t believe there were any ill intentions on Mike’s part in his interviews with players to get to know them,” general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “However, whether that was intent or not, some of our players weren’t comfortable with his methods and that was concerning. As we gathered information and had numerous discussions, both internally and externally, it became clear the distractions caused by this were too great and were having a negative impact on our players.
“As a result, we came to a conclusion with everybody involved in the process that the best course of action was for Mike to step down and Pascal would take over as the head coach.”
It really does not matter the intention of the ask. The short history of cell phones, pics, sharing, posting, and any other manner of digital activities is fraught with angst at the very least.
Yes, it may have been innocent, but the optics are pre-skewed and there ought to have been more conscious thought put in the process.
The Blue Jackets quickly replaced Babcock with assistant coach Pascal Vincent.
Just as the Babcock systems were set to be instituted, there is now an even newer system to be revealed.
“We’ve been facing some adversity and as a team, as a person, as a coach, what do you do?” Vincent said in his opening remarks. “You face it, and you move on. And that’s what we intend to do. We’re going to move on. I know our players have been working extremely hard this summer. I know what we did as coaches and our focus right now is we’re looking ahead. What can we do today to get ready for tomorrow? We’re going to be ready for Thursday. We’re going to be on the ice Thursday and we’re going to get going.
“Our plan is to be a highly competitive team that will be working extremely hard, but also we want to make sure our fans are proud to be Columbus Blue Jackets fans. And that’s it.”
This off season had been relatively quiet, with only the Babcock hire, and departure, were the only real moves made. The Blue Jackets stayed out of the free agency pool.
Last season, Columbus was the second youngest team in the NHL. They surrendered 330 goals on the season, more than four per game, but that was a result of injuries and lost skater games on the season. Youthful inexperience didn’t help, but there is no reason to saddle them with the blame.
In 2022-23, the Blue Jackets recorded 563 skater-games lost to injury.
The club was hamstrung when they lost Zach Werenski for 69 games, Jakub Voracek, for 50 games.
The numbers are staggering, and point to the reason the Blue Jackets were in pickle from the start. A total of 47 skaters donned the Columbus sweater. Six goalies iced for the Blue Jackets, and 19 NHL debuts were made.
The Blue Jackets need goalie Elvis Merzlikins to rediscover his mojo, and make the saves the team needs, and the occasional unnecessary spectacular saves that drive a roster.
“I am the key piece,” Merzlikins said on NHL.com. “I don’t consider me the key piece last season. Too many injuries, too many ups and downs. Now I’m 29, I’m not a kid anymore. … I’m the first one to say I was awful. I wasn’t the best and I’ve got to become the best.”
Columbus is not going to get any younger this season. At least three prospects are slated to make the roster this season.
Adam Fantilli, the number three pick in this year’s NHL Entry Draft, is expected to ice for the Blue Jackets this season.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” Werenski said. “He’s very mature. When you talk to him, he gets it right away. He’s produced everywhere he’s been. I have no question that he’ll be able to produce at the NHL level.”
Defenseman David Jiricek is looking at a roster spot in Columbus as well. He iced in four games for the Blue Jackets last campaign, and spent the balance of his time with the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL.
“We believe David Jiricek is going to be a great defenseman in the NHL,” Kekalainen said.
A third prospect is anticipated on the bench, forward Dmitri Voronkov, 22, iced in the KHL season after being drafted in 2019.
It is more likely he will land in Cleveland and work on some of the softer parts of his game, including skating.
Two 19-year old prospects are expected in the next year or two. Defenseman Denton Mateychuk and Jordan Dumais are skating in the juniors this coming season.
Werenski has been quoted as saying the Columbus rebuild is “over”. That is a bit optimistic.
This season will be another campaign focused on the future.
Vincent will have a tough task ahead of him to rally his troops. He knows the roster well, and has the jump on getting his system in place and on which players he can rely.
Much of the focus on Johnny Gaudreau having a better season, and stronger leadership. He iced in 80 games and collected 74 points. For his contract, and the expectations placed on Gaudreau and his shoulders, his production and presence need to be more impactful and visible.
Werenski may think otherwise, the Blue Jackets have one more year of rebuild before they are truly competitive, and pushing for a post season spot in a difficult Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference.
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