Since we called our first survey of Jarmo Kekalainen’s tenure “Jarmo’s Greatest Hits,” it’s natural to call this one “Jarmo’s Greatest Misses.”

Admittedly, this title is a bit harsh. Sorry.

Kekalainen is in his 11^th season as general manager of the Blue Jackets. He has the second-longest tenure in the league, behind Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis Blues and Kevin Cheveldayoff of the Winnipeg Jets.

Kekalainen is known for taking big swings and sometimes he misses. We applaud him for his boldness, which can be a requisite in a smaller market. Then, we rip him when he whiffs. The thing is, one can always see his thinking behind his moves, even when he misses, and his thinking is usually sound.

There are other dynamics at work in the chiaroscuro of the front office, dynamics that never fully come to light.

At any given time, there may be pressure placed on the GM to win now and get in the playoffs or to watch the budget. And there are the coaches. We’ll never know how many times Kekalainen has heard, “Get this guy out of here, I don’t care how much potential he has, and find me a reliable veteran for the third line.”

Kekalainen is nothing if not competitive, as the “all-in” trade deadline of 2019 attests.

He hung on to the expiring contracts of Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky, knowing that neither was likely to re-sign in Columbus, rather than trading them for assets. He doubled down and sold six draft picks (including a first-round pick and two second rounders) and moved out Anthony Duclair and two prospects. In return, he brought in center Matt Duchene, one of the hottest rentals on the market, left winger Ryan Dzingel, who played at Ohio State, defenseman Adam McQuaid and depth goaltender Keith Kinkaid.

Those Jackets won seven of their last eight regular-season games, grabbed the second wild card in the East and swept the mighty Tampa Bay Lightning out of the first round of the playoffs. It was the first postseason series victory in franchise history and Nationwide Arena thundered. In the next round, the Boston Bruins took the Jackets out in six games.

The bill came due in the summer, when Bobrovsky, Duchene and Panarin walked, and the Jackets made just three picks in the draft, two in the fourth round plus a seventh rounder (Eric Hjorth, Dmitri Voronkov and Tyler Angle). In hindsight, one wonders how Kekalainen would have done by selling at the 2019 trade deadline and dedicating himself to a rebuild.

Doug MacLean left an oil spill in Columbus in 2007. He was a mistake, in and of himself. Scott Howson tried to clean up the spill and made mistakes along the way (Jeff Carter, Scott Arniel and Nikita Filatov to name a few). Kekalainen, with five playoff appearances, has been the best GM in Jackets history and it’s not even close. He has also been the longest serving, which means there’s a lot to pick through.

It’s almost unfair to the man, really, but on we go.

Mike Babcock hire

September 15, 2023: Mike Babcock “resigns” as coach. Babcock, a control enthusiast, had a history of playing mind games with players. Kekalainen bought the idea that this history was the product of an overzealous Toronto media and hired Babcock anyway.

Whoopsie!

After an investigation by the NHL Players’ Association, it became clear Babcock’s survey of players’ cell phones was not as innocent as the team initially claimed. Babcock was forced to resign before he’d even conducted a single practice. It was one of the most embarrassing interludes in the team’s history, which is saying something. The good news is Pascal Vincent, elevated to take Babcock’s place, might be a major upgrade.

Nathan Horton

July 15, 2013: Nathan Horton signs a free-agent contract worth $37.1 million over seven years. In search of scoring punch, Kekalainen got his hands on one of the shiniest objects on the market. Horton played a key role in the Boston Bruins’ run to the Stanley Cup in 2011. He came to Columbus in need of shoulder surgery. He wound up playing 36 games for the Jackets before a degenerative back injury put him on track to early retirement. All of this was bad luck. The mistake was neglecting to take out insurance on Horton’s contract, which led to salary-cap and other budgetary difficulties.

Acquiring Marian Gaborik

April 3, 2013: From the New York Rangers, acquired right wing Marian Gaborik, defenseman Blake Parlett and defenseman Steven Delisle for center Derick Brassard, right wing Derek Dorsett, defenseman Jon Moore and a sixth-round draft pick.

March 5, 2015: From the Los Angeles Kings, acquired right wing Matt Frattin, a second-round pick and a conditional third-rounder for Gaborik. Kekalainen replaced Howson on Feb. 13, 2013, less than a month into a lockout-shortened season. The Jackets were 5-12-4 on March 1 and among the front-runners in the Nathan MacKinnon draft lottery. Then, they started winning and Kekalainen made his first big deadline splash with the acquisition of Gaborik, a high-scoring forward who was allergic to defense. In the moment, you could see the idea of it: give the team an offensive threat for the short-term and, possibly, the long-term. In retrospect, the cost to buy and sell Gaborik, who was on the other side of his prime, was much too steep.

Vegas Golden Knights swipe William Karlsson

June 21, 2017: Traded RW David Clarkson, a 2017 first-round pick (Kristian Vesalainen) and a 2019 second-round pick to the Vegas Golden Knights to ensure the Knights selected center William Karlsson in the expansion draft. There’s a lot to unpack here. The NHL set up some sweet expansion-draft rules that allowed Vegas to extort any number of teams. The Jackets had to get injured Clarkson, who was like the second coming of Horton, off their cap. They also wanted to protect goalie Joonas Korpisalo and power forward Josh Anderson. Karlsson turned into a star center for a team that won the Stanley Cup earlier this year.

So long, Oliver Bjorkstrand

July 22, 2022: From the Seattle Kraken, acquired a 2023 third-round pick (Ayder Suniev, who was ultimately swapped for the rights to sign Damon Severson) and a 2023 fourth-round pick (Luca Pinelli) for right wing Oliver Bjorkstrand. As in the expansion deal above, there’s a diffusion of odor here. Kekalainen extended Jack Roslovic’s contract, then overpaid free-agent Erik Gudbranson, and then Johnny Gaudreau picked Columbus – not going to turn him down. The cap was essentially blown amid a market that heavily favored buyers. It’s hard to believe this was all he could fetch for Bjorkstrand, a homegrown Blue Jacket and a two-way forward who's potentially the second rendition of Karlsson.

Josh Anderson for Max Domi and Pierre-Luc Dubois wants out

October 6, 2020: From the Montreal Canadiens, acquired C/W Max Domi and a 2020 third-round draft pick for RW Josh Anderson. Once again, the malodorous context is important. Former coach John Tortorella was returning for his final year when it was clear he’d outlived his shelf life in Columbus. Anderson and Pierre-Luc Dubois – young, talented power forwards who are difficult to replace – were engaged in fraught, and at times contentious, negotiations over contract extensions (which has happened before in the Kekalainen administration). Anderson was a valuable trade commodity and the return was not commensurate. Domi didn’t get along with Tortorella. Dubois, too, had his issues with the coach, then quit on his teammates and was moved to Winnipeg for a good return (Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic).

There are other items: the Dzingel acquisition at the “all-in” deadline, the decision to let go of Jonathan Marchessault, a handful of draft picks that could be second-guessed (happens to every GM), the payouts on this or that contract, the hiring of Brad Larsen?

But we’ll end here.

After the free-agent exodus of 2019, there remained a group of young Jackets, a few of whom had come up together in the organization, and they were tight and all about Columbus – Anderson, Bjorkstrand, Dubois, Korpisalo, et al. A culture was built and then it was gone. Seth Jones poised himself for free agency and Cam Atkinson was traded to Philadelphia. Poof.

In three years since, Kekalainen & Co. have built the farm system into one of the best in the league. There’s a lot of talent in Columbus and on the way. There is potential that will not be realized to its fullest extent this season, and maybe not even next season.

What new culture will grow with it?

One hopes it is harmonious, from ice level to executive suite. Syncopation is the mark of the best organizations. Continuity helps, as well.

marace@dispatch.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jarmo Kekalainen's worst moves as general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets