Columbus fires Jarmo Kekalainen

[Voight]

Chia is still available

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

It was time, but I hate to see so many negative comments about him. I don't say this very often, but most people are truly clueless.

- People crap on him for making the playoffs 5/10 full seasons he was there. I mean, he took over a team that made the playoffs once in 14 years.

- 4 years in to his tenure the Jackets had their franchise best regular season, which included a 16-game winning streak. Torts won the Jack Adams.

- Team made the playoffs 4 years in a row, and people say the culture wasn't great? Okay.

- Their playoff record isn't great, but they had to play the eventual cup champions 4/5 years, so no one else beat those teams either.. almost 5/5 as the Bruins went to game 7 of the finals. They did however beat the, at the time, record setting Bolts in a sweep. Lifelong memories for any Jackets fan.

- He wasn't afraid of making big moves like bringing in Gaborik, Panarin and Gaudreau, which was much needed for a franchise that was notorious for having little to no star power, and he was often in on many others. Some worked out, some didn't, but at least he legitimately tried.

- Lots of bad luck. Horton coming off of a monster playoffs had to retire early due to a back injury that wasn't properly diagnosed until a season after he was signed. Both Johansen and Dubois had attitude problems and wanted to play somewhere else. And after hitting their peak, some of their best players jumped ship that had nothing to do with the team.

- He brought in much scouting experience and passed on a consensus #3 pick Puljujarvi despite the Finnish connection. He didn't butcher any of this top 10 picks. Fantilli, Johnson and Jiricek are all going to be good players, and Werenski is still their #1 dman.

You go down the list and there was a reason he lasted for a decade. Things slowly went off rails after that disaster summer of 2020, but yeah, it's not an easy job over there. You don't hear star players say it's been their life-long dream to play in Columbus, and their reputation as a franchise was in the gutter when he started. Completely turning that around wasn't a simple task. Players signed with the Jackets a few years ago because they wanted to win the cup, that tells you how much things changed. Unfortunately it didn't last, but I don't put it all on Jarmo.

Obviously in 10 years you're bound to make mistakes. And like I said, it was time. But he's not even close to one of the worst GM's you've ever seen like some people here say. It's easy to have that narrative now to due to the Babcock fiasco and teams performance, but everything was fine a few years ago. Having the last years define an entire tenure is asinine.

At the end of the day, he spent 14 years in the NHL as a scout/assistant manager, went to the KHL to manage team for 3 years and then became the first european GM in the League's history, and had some success doing it. He earned that right. I have a lot of respect for the guy.

 

[Marioesque]

It was time, but I hate to see so many negative comments about him. I don't say this very often, but most people are truly clueless.

- People crap on him for making the playoffs 5/10 full seasons he was there. I mean, he took over a team that made the playoffs once in 14 years.

- 4 years in to his tenure the Jackets had their franchise best regular season, which included a 16-game winning streak. The team wasn't projected to be anything special. Torts won the Jack Adams.

- Team made the playoffs 4 years in a row, and people say the culture wasn't great? Okay.

- Their playoff record isn't great, but they had to play the eventual cup champions 4/5 times, so no one else beat those teams either. They did however beat the, at the time, record setting Bolts in a sweep.

- He wasn't afraid of making big moves like bringing in Gaborik, Panarin and Gaudreau, which was much needed for a franchise that was notorious for having little to no star power, and was often in on many others. Some worked out, some didn't, but at least he legitimately tried.

- Lots of bad luck. Horton coming off of a monster playoffs had to retire early due to a back injury that wasn't properly diagnosed until a season after he was signed. Both Johansen and Dubois had attitude problems and wanted to play somewhere else. And after hitting their peak, some of their best players jumped ship that had nothing to do with the team.

- He brought in much scouting experience and passed on a consensus #3 pick like Puljujarvi despite the Finnish connection. He didn't butcher any of this top 10 picks. Fantilli, Johnson and Jiricek are all going to be good players, and Werenski is still their #1 dman.

Like... you go down the list and there was a reason he lasted for a decade. Things slowly went off rails after that disaster summer of 2020, but yeah, it's not an easy job over there. You don't hear star players say it's been their life-long dream to play in Columbus, and their reputation as a franchise was in the gutter when he started. Completely turning that around wasn't a simple task. Unfortunately it didn't last, but I don't put it all on him.

Obviously in 10 years you're bound to make mistakes. And like I said, it was time. But he's not even close to one of the worst GM's you've ever seen like some people here say. It's easy to have that narrative now to due to the Babcock fiasco and teams performance, but everything was fine a few years ago. Having the last years define an entire decade is asinine.

This is why I don't think the new GM will feel like a win, or be an improvement in the long run. And I don't even believe Babcock was a Jarmo idea in the first place but have to wait on some journalist to ask him that.

Team is stacked with young talent so I expect them to do well for next few years but that's a team that Jarmo built.

I hope the scouting doesn't take a dip now.

 

[Koivu11]

 

[blueandgoldguy]

Three below average Gms in Columbus. Maybe fourth times the charm and the organization will finally hire a good GM.

Jarmo lost the script with some questionable free agent signings over the past few seasons.

 

[ClevelandJacketFan]

I don't think Jarmo is as bad as many are saying, but I think he had 1 or 2 very bad flaws that ended up sinking him.

1) He's maybe the worst negotiator I've ever seen. This goes for bad contracts to flat out insulting people and making people want to leave, he's just terrible at it. Not only that, but he's also given out some terrible contracts in recent years, when he should have used his Cap Space better.

2) He couldn't, for the life of him, replace Torts. The Brad Larsen hiring had to be among the worst in the NHL in the last few years, topped only by the worst in Babcock. Not to mention, he has allowed assistants to stay in jobs too long, and not have a hand in replace assistants (or helping inexperienced coaches find better replacements.)

I think there is a 2nd act for Jarmo, and he created a DAMN good amateur scouting system. Siren and his staff should absolutely stay put, because the Jackets can identify talent, now they need a GM who will allow that talent to get on the ice, not be blocked by garbage 3rd contract guys who don't belong.

 

[Viqsi]

It was time, but I hate to see so many negative comments about him. I don't say this very often, but most people are truly clueless.

- People crap on him for making the playoffs 5/10 full seasons he was there. I mean, he took over a team that made the playoffs once in 14 years.

- 4 years in to his tenure the Jackets had their franchise best regular season, which included a 16-game winning streak. Torts won the Jack Adams.

- Team made the playoffs 4 years in a row, and people say the culture wasn't great? Okay.

- Their playoff record isn't great, but they had to play the eventual cup champions 4/5 years, so no one else beat those teams either.. almost 5/5 as the Bruins went to game 7 of the finals. They did however beat the, at the time, record setting Bolts in a sweep. Lifelong memories for any Jackets fan.

- He wasn't afraid of making big moves like bringing in Gaborik, Panarin and Gaudreau, which was much needed for a franchise that was notorious for having little to no star power, and he was often in on many others. Some worked out, some didn't, but at least he legitimately tried.

- Lots of bad luck. Horton coming off of a monster playoffs had to retire early due to a back injury that wasn't properly diagnosed until a season after he was signed. Both Johansen and Dubois had attitude problems and wanted to play somewhere else. And after hitting their peak, some of their best players jumped ship that had nothing to do with the team.

- He brought in much scouting experience and passed on a consensus #3 pick Puljujarvi despite the Finnish connection. He didn't butcher any of this top 10 picks. Fantilli, Johnson and Jiricek are all going to be good players, and Werenski is still their #1 dman.

You go down the list and there was a reason he lasted for a decade. Things slowly went off rails after that disaster summer of 2020, but yeah, it's not an easy job over there. You don't hear star players say it's been their life-long dream to play in Columbus, and their reputation as a franchise was in the gutter when he started. Completely turning that around wasn't a simple task. Players signed with the Jackets a few years ago because they wanted to win the cup, that tells you how much things changed. Unfortunately it didn't last, but I don't put it all on Jarmo.

Obviously in 10 years you're bound to make mistakes. And like I said, it was time. But he's not even close to one of the worst GM's you've ever seen like some people here say. It's easy to have that narrative now to due to the Babcock fiasco and teams performance, but everything was fine a few years ago. Having the last years define an entire tenure is asinine.

At the end of the day, he spent 14 years in the NHL as a scout/assistant manager, went to the KHL to manage team for 3 years and then became the first european GM in the League's history, and had some success doing it. He earned that right. I have a lot of respect for the guy.

YES. THANK YOU. You get a cookie.

 

[BLONG7]

I don't follow the team closely at all, but just a couple of seasons ago, this guy was nominated for GM of the year if I remember?
Seemed to be very well respected etc
In a nutshell, what happened guys?
Will he get rehired any time soon?

 

[Voight]

It was time, but I hate to see so many negative comments about him. I don't say this very often, but most people are truly clueless.

- People crap on him for making the playoffs 5/10 full seasons he was there. I mean, he took over a team that made the playoffs once in 14 years.

- 4 years in to his tenure the Jackets had their franchise best regular season, which included a 16-game winning streak. Torts won the Jack Adams.

- Team made the playoffs 4 years in a row, and people say the culture wasn't great? Okay.

- Their playoff record isn't great, but they had to play the eventual cup champions 4/5 years, so no one else beat those teams either.. almost 5/5 as the Bruins went to game 7 of the finals. They did however beat the, at the time, record setting Bolts in a sweep. Lifelong memories for any Jackets fan.

- He wasn't afraid of making big moves like bringing in Gaborik, Panarin and Gaudreau, which was much needed for a franchise that was notorious for having little to no star power, and he was often in on many others. Some worked out, some didn't, but at least he legitimately tried.

- Lots of bad luck. Horton coming off of a monster playoffs had to retire early due to a back injury that wasn't properly diagnosed until a season after he was signed. Both Johansen and Dubois had attitude problems and wanted to play somewhere else. And after hitting their peak, some of their best players jumped ship that had nothing to do with the team.

- He brought in much scouting experience and passed on a consensus #3 pick Puljujarvi despite the Finnish connection. He didn't butcher any of this top 10 picks. Fantilli, Johnson and Jiricek are all going to be good players, and Werenski is still their #1 dman.

You go down the list and there was a reason he lasted for a decade. Things slowly went off rails after that disaster summer of 2020, but yeah, it's not an easy job over there. You don't hear star players say it's been their life-long dream to play in Columbus, and their reputation as a franchise was in the gutter when he started. Completely turning that around wasn't a simple task. Players signed with the Jackets a few years ago because they wanted to win the cup, that tells you how much things changed. Unfortunately it didn't last, but I don't put it all on Jarmo.

Obviously in 10 years you're bound to make mistakes. And like I said, it was time. But he's not even close to one of the worst GM's you've ever seen like some people here say. It's easy to have that narrative now to due to the Babcock fiasco and teams performance, but everything was fine a few years ago. Having the last years define an entire tenure is asinine.

At the end of the day, he spent 14 years in the NHL as a scout/assistant manager, went to the KHL to manage team for 3 years and then became the first european GM in the League's history, and had some success doing it. He earned that right. I have a lot of respect for the guy.

Perfectly said. I don't understand all the criticism. Yea, in hindsight hiring Babcock was a mistake and no GM is perfect, but Jarmo drafted very well and made some key trades. It's not his fault Panarin didn't want play anywhere but NYC or that Bob wanted to live in Florida. He also convinced Gaudreau to sign there, that's no easy task.

I think he'd be well in a bigger market with more resources and more player appeal. IMO he will be a GM again at some point.

 

[ijuka]

Perfectly said. I don't understand all the criticism. Yea, in hindsight hiring Babcock was a mistake and no GM is perfect, but Jarmo drafted very well and made some key trades. It's not his fault Panarin didn't want play anywhere but NYC or that Bob wanted to live in Florida. He also convinced Gaudreau to sign there, that's no easy task.

He also signed Gudbranson to 4x4

 

[LOFIN]

He also signed Gudbranson to 4x4

If Gaudreau would be putting up 100 points a year no-one would bat an eye at that. They were considered a package deal many people suspect.

 

[majormajor]

I don't follow the team closely at all, but just a couple of seasons ago, this guy was nominated for GM of the year if I remember?
Seemed to be very well respected etc
In a nutshell, what happened guys?
Will he get rehired any time soon?

Up until a couple years ago it was often said that Jarmo would get hired to be GM by another club very quickly if he was ever let go.

But the last couple years he's made a lot of mistakes. I don't know at this point if he'll get another GM gig.

The Jackets core forwards under Torts were largely very competitive types drafted or acquired under the Howson regime - Jenner, Anderson, Dubinsky, Foligno, Calvert, Atkinson. Jarmo added one elite forechecker to that group in Oliver Bjorkstrand. As those players have aged out, Jarmo has failed to replace that competitive ability or that forechecking ability. He's added mostly soft rush oriented players. The Jackets went from being the top heavy forechecking club to being one of the worst. Jarmo gave away Bjorkstrand, which is possibly his most foolish move ever. To me it really betrayed that he didn't understand his own team and what it needed.

 

[Gravity]

Stay away from Gorton!

 

[majormajor]

Stay away from Gorton!

Yeah you gotta make sure the guy who gave away JT Miller and McDonagh and burned high picks on Lias Andersson, Vitali Kravtsov, Kakko, and Lafreniere, doesn't get poached.

If the Habs can make sure the Jackets can't talk to Gorton, that would make me pleased as a Jackets fan.

 

[Gravity]

Yeah you gotta make sure the guy who gave away JT Miller and McDonagh and burned high picks on Lias Andersson, Vitali Kravtsov, Kakko, and Lafreniere, doesn't get poached.

If the Habs can make sure the Jackets can't talk to Gorton, that would make me pleased as a Jackets fan.

Sounds like a deal. I like what we're building here. You guys are also building something pretty cool so I hope you get a good GM.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

If Gaudreau would be putting up 100 points a year no-one would bat an eye at that. They were considered a package deal many people suspect.

Even as a package deal with Gaudreau putting up 100 points, that contract for Gudbranson is brutal and only going to get worse.

 

[Rcknrollkillnmachine]

Perfectly said. I don't understand all the criticism. Yea, in hindsight hiring Babcock was a mistake and no GM is perfect, but Jarmo drafted very well and made some key trades. It's not his fault Panarin didn't want play anywhere but NYC or that Bob wanted to live in Florida. He also convinced Gaudreau to sign there, that's no easy task.

I think he'd be well in a bigger market with more resources and more player appeal. IMO he will be a GM again at some point.

Well put.

As a hot take I could see him take over in LA if Blake gets fired.

 

[LOFIN]

Even as a package deal with Gaudreau putting up 100 points, that contract for Gudbranson is brutal and only going to get worse.

Sure. But my point is this: let's assume Gudbranson and Gaudreau are joined to the hip. If Gaudreau would perform, you could accept that Gudbranson contract. At least in the position of Columbus, where that signing was more about just the stats and cap hit.

 

[Shark Finn]

I remember being super stoked as Finn when he was hired. I think he lands another job in some role.

 

[Matty Sundin]

He wasn’t afraid to make ballsy moves. That year Jackets shocked Tampa bay he went balls to the wall, to the ceiling and floor and outside on the ground and his car back to the wall again. Btw I’m drunk still

 

[ES]

While he is European his hockey thinking was still very NA to me, especially with the coaching hires. Even though Jukka Jalonen has stated he would be interested in NHL coaching job I didn't see a good connection between Kekäläinen and him. I thought more likely job would have been an assistant coach with a coach who has coached Canada or USA in World Championships.

 

[WayTooCold]

As a Finn. Jarmo 100% deserved to be fired. It should have happened 5 years ago.
BS rosters year after year. Babcock hiring was his final nail in the coffin.

 

[MoeBartoli]

The Blue Jackets ownership group needs to do what some NFL teams have done.

Call the league office. Admit you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing. You don’t know how to hire a good GM. You don’t even know how to hire a good person who hires the other people. Like a president of hockey operations. You get their input and a list of people and you start from there.

And if that doesn’t work. You sell the team because you’re incompetent.

All of these things ALWAYS reflect on ownership. This organization returning to bottom feeder status - AGAIN - reflects on ownership who doesn’t know what they’re doing.

That’s how the landed on Doug MacLean at the outset. How’d that work out?

 

[Farmboy Patty]

Ignoring the fact that Columbus won 2 series, the 2nd being in 2020: when people say things like this, it's factual but it's also a lazy comment.

Which of the 5 playoff series that the Blue Jackets lost under Kekalainen should they have won?
* 2014 - 2nd time ever in the playoffs, lost to Pittsburgh who won the Metropolitan with 109 points
* 2017 - lost to Pittsburgh, who went on to win the Cup
* 2018 - lost to Washington, who went on to win the Cup
* 2019 - lost to Boston, who went to Game 7 of the Finals
* 2020 - lost to Tampa Bay, who went on to win the Cup

Or: which of the years that the Blue Jackets didn't make the playoffs should they have (a) made the playoffs, and then (b) won a series once there? They never had (and have never had, in franchise history) a record such that they started a series with home ice advantage, and 3 of the 4 years they lost to the eventual Cup champions. What were the reasonable expectations for their postseason performance given their regular season performances and their initial playoff matchups?

I'm not even asking for moves that Kekalainen should have made to help Columbus win series - because, that's presupposes anyone knows what moves those should have been and they absolutely, without question, resulted in a more favorable outcome. I'm just asking for reasonable answers to why they should have won more series, not even asking how that would change the decision announced this morning.

Argumentum ad populum - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This is a good post with a lot more context to the path and competition in the PO’s that the Jackets were facing. They’ve faced a lot of great teams right at the start. Blaming JK for not beating those powerhouses that went on to winning the cup is almost silly. He’s obviously done a lot of good things and then bad decisions as well, but for me the last coaching hires and the Babs debacle are the only egregious ones that have nailed his shelf life in the org to an end. The guy is competent.

 

[Fro]

That’s how the landed on Doug MacLean at the outset. How’d that work out?

There's not a crying emoji