Blue Jackets' search to replace Kekalainen to focus on candidates outside the organization

michael arace, columbus dispatch

Fri, Feb 16, 2024, 2:27 AM·3 min read

The Blue Jackets had a 410-362-97 record over Jarmo Kekalainen's 10-plus season as the team's general manager.

Jarmo Kekalainen, the most successful and longest-tenured general manager in Blue Jackets history, has been fired, the team announced Thursday.

The Blue Jackets have won just one playoff series since they joined the league as an expansion team in 2000-01. That said, Kekalainen, 57, fared much better than his predecessors, Scott Howson and Doug MacLean. The Jackets made the playoffs in five of Kekalainen's first eight seasons.

Hired on Feb. 13, 2013, Kekalainen's teams had a 410-362-97 record over 10-plus seasons. At the time of his firing, the Jackets were in last place in the Eastern Conference with a 16-26-10 record. The team also had a minus-41 goal differential, worst in the Eastern Conference.

The Blue Jackets, who are in last place in the NHL's Eastern Conference, have dismissed general manager Jarmo Kekalainen.

John Davidson, president of hockey operations and alternate governor, will handle GM duties in the interim with assistance from the rest of the management staff Kekalainen leaves behind. There's no set timetable to find Kekalainen's replacement, and Davidson said the search would start with a focus on candidates outside the organization.

"This is one of the hardest days I have had in my career, as Jarmo is a friend, someone I have a great deal of respect for and someone who has done a lot of good things during his time here,” Davidson said. “While the future of our club is bright, our performance has not been good enough and it is time for a fresh perspective as we move forward.”

Kekalainen was among the longest-serving active GMs in the league prior to his dismissal. The timing of his firing — after the Jackets' bye week earlier this month and three weeks before the March 8 trade deadline ― will complicate the conclusion of the season for Columbus. The move also overshadowed multiple reports the broke Wednesday night, including one from the Dispatch citing sources who confirmed the Blue Jackets will host their first outdoor game March 1 of next season at Ohio Stadium.

As for what's next, well, the Jackets have been in various stages of rebuilding since 2020 and the project has, at times, lost its focus. The Jackets made expensive forays into the free-agent market, signing forward Johnny Gaudreau to a $68.25-million contract in 2022 and defenseman Damon Severson to a $50-million deal last year. Kekalainen also traded for veteran defenseman Ivan Provorov last summer.

With the Blue Jackets firing general manager Jarmo Kekalainen (pictured), president of hockey operations John Davidson and the remaining hockey-ops team will handle the NHL trade deadline.

The plan was to put the Jackets, who had the second-worst record in the league last season, on a path toward quick improvement. The coach who was supposed to direct the turnaround was Mike Babcock, who was hired in July and forced to resign in September, before he even gathered the team for training camp. Babcock came to a termination agreement after an NHLPA investigation found that he violated the privacy of certain players by scrolling through their cell phones during summer meetings.

Eventually, the team pivoted to Pascal Vincent, promoting him from the role of associate coach. Vincent had never served as an NHL head coach but spent 10 years with the Winnipeg Jets organization as an NHL assistant and as head coach of the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

The hiring/removal of Babcock was an embarrassment for the Blue Jackets as a franchise. Kekalainen and Davidson said they did their "due diligence" prior to the hiring, but ownership released an ominous statement indicating they were "deeply frustrated and disappointed" with way the situation played out.

The prepared statement issued Thursday on behalf of ownership was more cordial, but no less impactful.

“On behalf of our ownership group, I’d like to thank Jarmo for his hard work and commitment over the past 11 years,” Blue Jackets Majority Owner and Governor John P. McConnell said on Thursday. “He and Tiina, and their daughters, are special people who will always be a part of our Blue Jackets family and I wish them the very best in the next chapter of their lives.”

marace@dispatch.com