5 Columbus Blue Jackets GM hires who would cause a stir in NHL circles
Almost six weeks into their search process, the Blue Jackets are no closer to naming a replacement for Jarmo Kekalainen than they were Feb. 15 — when they announced the former general manager’s ouster after 11 years.
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Only cryptic updates have been issued since, no formal interviews have taken place and it’s starting to feel like the new GM won’t be revealed until the offseason. John Davidson, the Blue Jackets’ president of hockey operations and acting GM, has said that interest in the position is high — thanks to Kekalainen leaving the cupboards stocked with promising young talent ― but that also means it's open season for hypothesizing.
At this point, it’s anyone’s guess who gets the job and Blue Jackets fans can still dream of landing a fish big enough to make waves throughout the NHL.
Here are five:
Bill Zito, Florida Panthers general manager
Since leaving his post as Kekalainen’s right-hand man to become the Panthers’ GM in 2020, Zito has done nothing but prove he’s one of the NHL’s best in the role.
He’s not afraid to make bold moves, has surrounded himself with a talented staff and has shown a knack for rounding out the Panthers’ roster despite losing quality depth to injuries and salary-cap issues during his first four seasons.
Zito’s acquisition of Matthew Tkachuk with a blockbuster trade in 2022 and hiring of Paul Maurice as coach drew initial criticism, but both decisions garnered high praise after they led the Panthers to an appearance in last year's Stanley Cup final.
Zito, 59, has surrounded top center Aleksander Barkov with talent, worked with goalie Sergei Bobrovski’s massive contract ($10 million a year) and led an effort to give the Panthers a beautiful new practice facility in Fort Lauderdale ― which recently opened and is much closer to where most of his players live. Combine all of that with no state income tax in Florida and it’s crazy to even think Zito would consider leaving for a return to Columbus.
But dare to dream, Blue Jackets fans. Zito only has one year left on his five-year contract with the Panthers and nothing has leaked yet about an extension to keep him there. Could a blank check from the Blue Jackets plus a title promotion with more oversight lure him back?
It’s unlikely, but not impossible.
Chris MacFarland, Colorado Avalanche general manager
MacFarland, 53, is another unlikely replacement option with deep Blue Jackets ties.
After working for the NHL while completing his law degree in the late 1990s, MacFarland joined the Blue Jackets in 1999, a year before their first season (2000-01). He worked his way up to assistant GM before leaving for the Avalanche in 2015.
Working with then-GM Joe Sakic, MacFarland helped the Avalanche rebuild through the draft and become the Stanley Cup contender they are now — with him in the GM’s office and Sakic the president of hockey operations. That shift took place July 11, 2022, keeping MacFarland with the Avs after winning the Cup. Opposing teams asked to interview him for their GM vacancies but were denied access.
Now in his second season as the Avs’ GM, MacFarland is poised for another Cup run with a loaded roster. He was also key in hiring Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, whom MacFarland originally hired to the Jackets’ former AHL affiliate’s staff in Springfield, Massachusetts. Would MacFarland leave what he’s helped build in Colorado for a return trip to Columbus?
If so, it would be noted across the league and probably require a large pay raise to get it done.
Émilie Castonguay, Vancouver Canucks assistant general manager
Since Castonguay, 40, jumped from being a player agent certified by the National Hockey League Players’ Association into an assistant GM role with the Canucks, five other women followed suit with NHL teams. One was Cammi Granato, who joined Castonguay in Vancouver about three weeks later as another of the Canucks’ assistant GMs.
Either deserves consideration as the first female GM in NHL history, so why not have it happen in Columbus?
For this projection, let's focus on Castonguay, who was technically the first female in NHL history to hold the assistant GM title. Castonguay played four seasons of college hockey at Niagara University before getting her law degree from l'Université de Montréal. After interning with former Montreal Canadiens GM Pierre Gauthier, Castonguay joined Momentum Hockey Group and became the agency’s director of legal affairs and hockey operations.
Prior to joining the Canucks, she represented New York Rangers forward Alexis Lefreniere leading into his selection first overall in the 2020 NHL draft.
Hiring Castonguay, Granato or another female would break a barrier that’s long overdue to be broken in the NHL and would give the Blue Jackets another notable first. They also provided the NHL with its first European-born GM by hiring Kekalainen.
Stan Bowman, former Chicago Blackhawks general manager
If the Blue Jackets want to get the NHL buzzing, all they need to do is announce the hiring of Bowman to run the front office.
Unfortunately for Bowman, the Jackets already tried giving a second chance to embattled former coach Mike Babcock and he needed only 78 days to make it blow up in their collective face. So, Bowman isn’t getting the Jackets’ GM job after being attached to the Kyle Beach coverup scandal with the Chicago Blackhawks.
That doesn’t mean the Blue Jackets shouldn’t at least call him for a conversation about the position and his vision of what they could become. Aside from the Beach scandal, Bowman is often criticized for moves in Chicago that didn’t work. He rarely gets credit for having his name on the Stanley Cup three times, keeping the Blackhawks competitive while building around a small core group and making deadline moves in 2015 that heavily contributed to Chicago’s third Stanley Cup title in a six-year span.
Bowman is only 50 and has expressed contrition for his role in the Beach scandal. He’ll almost certainly get another role with an NHL team at some point and could even rise back to the level of GM or president of hockey operations. It probably won’t happen in Columbus, thanks primarily to Babcock's face plant, but hiring him as the Jackets’ next GM would certainly get people talking.
Pat Brisson, agent, CAA hockey
How’s this one for a rainmaker?
Brisson has become akin to the NHL’s Scott Boras, a powerful agent with a list of clients that's almost 80 deep and collectively worth roughly $1.2 billion.
Brisson has clients on 29 of the league’s 32 teams, including Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson and Luca Del Bel Belluz with the Blue Jackets. Brisson’s name hasn’t come up recently for GM openings, but he’s been mentioned in the past for vacancies with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens. Each time, he “thankfully” excused himself from the search process, but it’s been a while since Brisson's name was mentioned as a possible GM candidate.
Should he consider a switch, there are plenty of success stories to convince him that an agent-to-manager transition could work.
Zito was an established player agent prior to joining Kekalainen in Columbus. Kekalainen also got his start as an agent in Finland. Ray Shero was an agent prior to his managerial career, Kent Hughes left the agent realm to become the Montreal Canadiens’ GM, Jeff Jackson left his agency to become the Edmonton Oilers’ CEO of hockey operations and Castonguay was an agent before landing her assistant GM role with Vancouver.
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It’s now a trend to hire an agent in a managerial role, and they don’t get any larger than Brisson in status. Should the Blue Jackets somehow coax him out of his CAA empire in Manhattan Beach, California, it would give the NHL a bombshell to discuss.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 5 Columbus Blue Jackets GM hires who'd get the NHL buzzing
