Confirmed with Link: CBJ hire Don Waddell as President of Hockey Operations and General Manager. JD to serve as Senior Advisor

[Iron Balls McGinty]

So basically what you are suggesting is promoting Nash was entirely Waddell's own idea which would have not happened necessarily if the GM/president was someone else.

I'm not buying it. I think the decision was strongly influenced by the ownership.

And for the record, I don't know how qualified Nash is for the job, let alone how good is he compared to the league average among directors of hockey operations. I'm not assuming he's terrible at it.

Well, he brought in his own guy and changed Basil McRae's role/title as part of it too.

Who cares who's idea it was. This is Don getting to shape the organization how he wants it set up. He's had 3 months to get to know him and find a place where he sees fit regardless of the title involved.

You could give me that same title and stick me in a basement office with a red swingline stapler and nobody outside that office would know what I do or don't do. People just have such overly jaded and cynical thoughts about a person that they can't even fathom that he might actually, possibly be good at his job while learning quite a bit.

 

[Cujorulesdtown9]

With Waddell bringing in his own guy to take Nashes old job and tge op job being open, it makes sense. Good for Nasher!
This one will be a big stress test, Waddell doesnt seem like a yes man that makes moves for funsies.

 

[CBJx614]

Because there’s no way that the best guy in the world for this job just so happens to be in the building. Just seems like a familiarity hire rather than an extensive search for the right guy.

Not every hire has to be getting the best most qualified guy available, sometimes it's better to get the "right" guy, even if he's not considered the best at it.. Just like signing the best FA doesn't mean it's the best addition for your team. And like we constantly talk about here, we as fans don't know jack shit about what's going on behind the scenes, I think the guys who have been involved in the NHL for going on 30years know better than any of us.

 

[Viqsi]

Because there’s no way that the best guy in the world for this job just so happens to be in the building.

[citation needed]

 

[GoJackets1]

[citation needed]

Also, we don’t need to pretend that every single hire ever is made that way. Is Basil McRae the absolute best guy in the world for his job that he was just promoted to? I’d wager probably not but I don’t hear complaining about that one.

 

[Fred Glover]

Also, we don’t need to pretend that every single hire ever is made that way. Is Basil McRae the absolute best guy in the world for his job that he was just promoted to? I’d wager probably not but I don’t hear complaining about that one.

Don’t worry someone will complain

 

[tunnelvision]

Well, he brought in his own guy and changed Basil McRae's role/title as part of it too.

McRae and Abdou assumably didn't have any special connection to McConnells prior to joining CBJ's FO, unlike Nash.

This is Don getting to shape the organization how he wants it set up.

So you believe he has full freedom to decide Nash's role in the organisation, he could even fire Nash if he wanted to?

 

[MoeBartoli]

Does McRae’s new position considered a promotion, demotion, lateral move or simply just a change of duties?

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

McRae and Abdou assumably didn't have any special connection to McConnells prior to joining CBJ's FO, unlike Nash.


So you believe he has full freedom to decide Nash's role in the organisation, he could even fire Nash if he wanted to?

McRae has been here for over a decade.

I don't know what Nash's employment terms are but generally anywhere and virtually everywhere hiring and firing anyone in a large business is not done by 1 single individual. And I'll say this once again. Maybe he's actually good at his job.

 

[Dumais]

I don't care what title you give him, as long as there's someone above him (Abdou) that will stop him from doing dumb stuff.

I get it, Sakic/Yzerman ... why not us? Cause those guys are hall of famers! First thing Nash should do when the owners crown him king of moneymakers, is taken that jersey down!

 

[Sdrawkcab321]

Not every hire has to be getting the best most qualified guy available, sometimes it's better to get the "right" guy, even if he's not considered the best at it.. Just like signing the best FA doesn't mean it's the best addition for your team. And like we constantly talk about here, we as fans don't know jack shit about what's going on behind the scenes, I think the guys who have been involved in the NHL for going on 30years know better than any of us.

If this mindset was correct we wouldn’t have had 5 head coaches in 5 years. Just because someone works in the league forever doesn’t mean they make the right decisions.

 

[Viqsi]

The only thing I find more demotivating, depressing, and generally exasperating than the degree to which so many hockey fans show such absolute contempt for and dismissal of my team and the people associated with it is seeing the exact same thing or worse from folks who simultaneously profess to be fans of said team.

I don't know if Nash is going to be capable at the job either, but for bloody f***'s sake people, at least give him a chance before you declare him to be a nepotism-adjacent f***up and More Of How Everything Here Is Terrible. You don't actually know him and what he's capable of anywhere near as much as you think you do.

 

[EspenK]

I don't know if Nash is going to be capable at the job either, but for bloody f***'s sake people, at least give him a chance before you declare him to be a nepotism-adjacent f***up and More Of How Everything Here Is Terrible. You don't actually know him and what he's capable of anywhere near as much as you think you do.

I agree.

 

[KJ Dangler]

Great hire in promoting Rick to President of Hockey Ops .. no doubt he’s being groomed to take over for Waddell down the road . He seems like a smart , well thought out , and wants to bring a cup to Columbus . In a league where Columbus is mostly an afterthought, he brings instant credibility here , and is well respected . Many of these kids playing now , grew up wanting to be like Rick Nash . For Waddell to make this move , this tells me Rick must have impressed him. Waddell is very deliberate , and wanted to see what he had here . It finally feels like this franchise has the right people in place , executing an actual plan

 

[Xoggz22]

The only thing I find more demotivating, depressing, and generally exasperating than the degree to which so many hockey fans show such absolute contempt for and dismissal of my team and the people associated with it is seeing the exact same thing or worse from folks who simultaneously profess to be fans of said team.

I don't know if Nash is going to be capable at the job either, but for bloody f***'s sake people, at least give him a chance before you declare him to be a nepotism-adjacent f***up and More Of How Everything Here Is Terrible. You don't actually know him and what he's capable of anywhere near as much as you think you do.

I might never get another cookie again for this post, but, as I try to be fair and impartial, your frustration over the Nash discussion feels eerily similar to others who were frustrated with your initial disdain and contempt for the hiring of GMDW. I'm not sure where you stand with DW now, but hopefully you're giving him a chance. I know he had a history that you pointed to, but I don't think what was then is what is now. I appreciate your post and am merely saying to remember those words. We all need to as we don't know shit about what goes on within Nationwide offices

You're still my favorite. Well... along with DSL and CBJW

 

[Viqsi]

I might never get another cookie again for this post, but, as I try to be fair and impartial, your frustration over the Nash discussion feels eerily similar to others who were frustrated with your initial disdain and contempt for the hiring of GMDW. I'm not sure where you stand with DW now, but hopefully you're giving him a chance. I know he had a history that you pointed to, but I don't think what was then is what is now. I appreciate your post and am merely saying to remember those words. We all need to as we don't know shit about what goes on within Nationwide offices

You're still my favorite. Well... along with DSL and CBJW

Truthfully, I'm still not sold on Waddell, and that's a non-negligible contributor to my general Lack Of Faith right now. I'm just deliberately trying to keep quiet about that because, well, having been historically sick to death of "I don't like things and it's because $VILLAIN still exists" posts over and over and over, I absolutely do not want to be a generator of same. It's my issue, he's here regardless so I'ma just deal, and I don't feel any kind of perverse desire to sell all y'all on why Everyone Else Should Be Miserable Like Me.

...which, if anything, has me even more snappy about folks making such posts. "Okay, y'all, I'm there too, I understand the feels, but FFS, I can deal with it, why can't you guys; it's not that f***ing hard."

 

[CBJx614]

I don't care what title you give him, as long as there's someone above him (Abdou) that will stop him from doing dumb stuff.

I get it, Sakic/Yzerman ... why not us? Cause those guys are hall of famers! First thing Nash should do when the owners crown him king of moneymakers, is taken that jersey down!

Briere, Grier, Doan. It's not like we're the only team that's doing this, it's happening across the league.

If this mindset was correct we wouldn’t have had 5 head coaches in 5 years. Just because someone works in the league forever doesn’t mean they make the right decisions.

Coaches and FO are two different beasts. The average NHL coaching tenure is like 2-3 years. So taking Torts out of the equation, since you're just throwing him in there to inflate that number, we're not that far out of the norm. Vincent was an emergency hire who didn't get extended, so I wouldn't really count him either. That leaves Larsen and Babcock.


Babcock was a case where he might have actually been the most qualified person for the job, with the most experience and the resume to back it up....and how did that work out?

 

[Jovavic]

Wasn't it reported that Nash was heavily involved in hiring Babcock? If so, that's instantly disqualifying to me.

 

[koteka]

Many of these kids playing now , grew up wanting to be like Rick Nash .

The sad truth is that very, very few people really ever dreamed of being Rick Nash. I say this as a guy who took his Rick-Nash-jersey-wearing kids to hockey practices where most of the other kids were wearing Crosby, Malkin, Toews, Kane, Ovechkin, and other jerseys. These practices were in various Columbus rinks when Nash was on the Jackets.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

The sad truth is that very, very few people really ever dreamed of being Rick Nash. I say this as a guy who took his Rick-Nash-jersey-wearing kids to hockey practices where most of the other kids were wearing Crosby, Malkin, Toews, Kane, Ovechkin, and other jerseys. These practices were in various Columbus rinks when Nash was on the Jackets.

Maybe that’s how it was in the “die hard” hockey community with kids who actively played organized hockey, but I can tell you in my neighborhood/school growing up with only a handful of hockey fans, the only player people knew was Rick Nash. When I was playing street hockey with a small group of friends (all jackets fans) we talked about who was going to be Rick Nash. this isn’t supposed to be a “you’re wrong” type of post, but the Rick Nash draw, at least what I grew up with, was very much there within my school/group of friends.

 

[koteka]

Maybe that’s how it was in the “die hard” hockey community with kids who actively played organized hockey, but I can tell you in my neighborhood/school growing up with only a handful of hockey fans, the only player people knew was Rick Nash. When I was playing street hockey with a small group of friends (all jackets fans) we talked about who was going to be Rick Nash. this isn’t supposed to be a “you’re wrong” type of post, but the Rick Nash draw, at least what I grew up with, was very much there within my school/group of friends.

I don’t doubt that. If you went to the mall or a restaurant or a Jackets game you definitely saw lots of Nash jerseys and tshirts. But a guy like Fantilli (who probably wasn’t born when Nash won the Rocket) wasn’t pretending he was Rick Nash. It would be interesting to hear from the Columbus guys like Roslovic and Kuraly who they were pretending to be when they were young hockey players.

 

[majormajor]

The sad truth is that very, very few people really ever dreamed of being Rick Nash.

I don't know what the relevance of that is, but in any case your statement isn't true. For kids who were 5-10 years old in 2005, Rick Nash was absolutely one of the players they might run around the driveway pretending to be. I've met Rick Nash superfans all over the country. One guy in Edmonton showed me several of his jerseys. The moment was around 2005 and it didn't last, but it had it's time.

 

[koteka]

I don't know what the relevance of that is, but in any case your statement isn't true. For kids who were 5-10 years old in 2005, Rick Nash was absolutely one of the players they might run around the driveway pretending to be. I've met Rick Nash superfans all over the country. One guy in Edmonton showed me several of his jerseys. The moment was around 2005 and it didn't last, but it had it's time.

I am sure you can find a few weird Nash fans. You Canadians think Olympic hockey means something. It was in response to a comment about the “kids” playing hockey today. How many core Jackets players were playing hockey in 2004 and 2005? Jenner, Werenski? Fantilli was a newborn and Jiricek was 1 in that brief moment when Nash won the Rocket and looked like he might become something he never became. Anyway, in Columbus my experience as an actual hockey dad was very few hockey players idolized Nash.

As an aside to @Viqsi who thinks I have been too negative at times, maybe that is the result of hanging around the serious hockey community in Columbus which has been far more critical of the Jackets over the years than the typical poster on the CBJ HF boards.

 

[CBJx614]

I am sure you can find a few weird Nash fans. You Canadians think Olympic hockey means something. It was in response to a comment about the “kids” playing hockey today. How many core Jackets players were playing hockey in 2004 and 2005? Jenner, Werenski? Fantilli was a newborn and Jiricek was 1 in that brief moment when Nash won the Rocket and looked like he might become something he never became. Anyway, in Columbus my experience as an actual hockey dad was very few hockey players idolized Nash.

As an aside to @Viqsi who thinks I have been too negative at times, maybe that is the result of hanging around the serious hockey community in Columbus which has been far more critical of the Jackets over the years than the typical poster on the CBJ HF boards.

Look no further than Sean Kuraly who grew up in Dublin...

2. You have said Rick Nash was your favorite player as a kid. How cool is it to play for the same organization as him?

"I think it's kind of a full circle. He was the guy that got Columbus excited about hockey and inspired a lot of kids to continue to play hockey. He was kind of every kid's idol. He's a big part of the reason why you've seen more talent come out of Columbus since the Blue Jackets have been here."

5 Questions: Get to know CBJ forward Sean Kuraly

Dublin native opens up about playing at home, places he'd like to travel and more

www.aaabluejackets.com

 

[CBJx614]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1837148804627226812

If some other team poached him and had any glimmer of success the boards here would riot. Let's give a chance, this team is loaded with talent, someone like Nash who had loads of talent but never knew what it was like to have loads of talent around him might be the perfect person help coordinate that talent and what's expected of them