The Jarmo Thread

[Halfboard]

Take a look at the roster. Except for Jenner, all players were acquired by Jarmo. If he was fired, everything would be used by the new GM, with everyone praising him. And no one would remember that it was Jarmo who strengthened the center line and defense. And these positions have been our problem in the past.

Strengthened the center line????!!!!

 

[BB88]

My willingness to go along with Babcock as HC was based on trusting Kekalainen's judgement after how well the Tortorella hiring had gone, against my worst expectations.

Oops.

I'm not going to call for firing him immediately; that just disrupts the team even more. But as far as I'm concerned unless the team does substantially better he's a lame-duck GM this year.

I’m not on the fire them train, because I believe they’ve build a core/prospect pool that has the highest potential in franchise’s history and making massive changes now could easily end up messing them and setting them years back.
Consistency and stability is something they desperately need in order to build a top tier franchise.

But it really puts more pressure on them to have a much improved season from last year. Winning is the best cure for bs.
Doesn’t mean playoffs or out but finishing far away from the bottom and kids showing their potential& development

 

[Indy18]

I'm going to disagree. Ownership needs to make a statement about what this franchise stands for. Allowing them to keep their job for their incompetence and not condemn the alleged behavior NOW tarnishes the club and the city that bears its name.

The McConnells would never do this because they are the most invisible owners is all of pro sports.

 

[Indy18]

I’m not on the fire them train, because I believe they’ve build a core/prospect pool that has the highest potential in franchise’s history and making massive changes now could easily end up messing them and setting them years back.
Consistency and stability is something they desperately need in order to build a top tier franchise.

But it really puts more pressure on them to have a much improved season from last year. Winning is the best cure for bs.
Doesn’t mean playoffs or out but finishing far away from the bottom and kids showing their potential& development

At this point Jarmo is basically a lame-duck GM unless everything goes right. In fact I doubt he will be doing any movement or trades before the TDL because of this spite us needing to trim alot of the fat from the rebuild transition. You see a trade like Sillinger for Lindholm you have every insider go "SEE JARMO IS RETAILATING AGAINST THE KIDS FOR THE BABCOCK FAILURE!" even if it was just to try to make the best possible team in their eyes. Probably wouldn't get fired because he still has two years left on his contract and I think everyone wants to see what he can do with his rebuild. You get a new GM in there right now with a new operations VP its 100% going to be a scorched earth rebuild and we would be lucky to compete around 2028 because people like Ville Siren would leave in a situation like this.

 

[niflheim]

I'm going to disagree. Ownership needs to make a statement about what this franchise stands for. Allowing them to keep their job for their incompetence and not condemn the alleged behavior NOW tarnishes the club and the city that bears its name.

We’ve grown old and ceased to understand the World during the years of pampered pleasure in our blue collar lagoon

Before McConnell's statement, we must formulate some ideas at the office level so that John's statement doesn’t become another blow to the reputation of the club and his personal

We are dealing with a new generation for whom a communication gadget is a continuation of their physical continuum ( body and consciousness, in other words). (Request) to show photos of the family for them is like a request to undress in a public place aka attempted rape (and so in all other aspects of their life). And not a harmless thing like for Boone Jenner or even a violation of privacy (as for most of us)

We really need to invite specialists who can help in the new status quo of things.

ps In any scenario, I think JD & JK are already heading for the exit. They don't seem able to adapt to societal evolution

 

[BluejacketNut]

If it could be guaranteed to nit have the team moved, I really want mcconnel to sell the team. It all starts at the top, the fact that priest is still involved with this team in any way is dumbfounding. This team will never win anything with this ownership

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

The McConnells would never do this because they are the most invisible owners is all of pro sports.

Makes the notion of firing JD very suspect. I get the feeling that JD handles many responsibilities that are typically held by team owners (some of which I believe used to be delegated to Mike Priest but for which he proved ill-suited).

I'd be OK with JD and Jarmo both fired, but I don't trust the remaining leadership of the team nor do I trust Priest and the McConnells to fill the void themselves nor with competent replacements in a timely manner.

 

[BluejacketNut]

Success starts at the top, hiring the right people, etc. I’ve always felt this team is nothjng but a burden to MCconnell, beholden to his dads legacy. I’m shocked at how he’s let Jk keep the keys to this team with as many buyouts and bad contracts he’s had to eat. When you look at our cap, we only have $4m in cap space, I cannot look at this team and the other teams in the eastern conf and think this is a playoff team, that’s not a very good return on investment. You add the hiring of Babcock along with all the bad contracts and lack of true success, how you can keep this front office, Priest included, is beyond me. We’ve always been a laughing stock, and it only keep going south

 

[JacketsDavid]

I've not been a fan of Jarmo for a while and was disappointed we brought JD back after he left and was fired.
Now to me this reeks of a JD hire. Unfortunately Nash was also a proponent of the hire so his hands are bloody too.
This almost seems like where ownership needs to go the league and ask them for help in putting a new leadership team together. I don't think ownership knows who to hire nor do I think I want them to do so.

 

[Indy18]

If it could be guaranteed to nit have the team moved, I really want mcconnel to sell the team. It all starts at the top, the fact that priest is still involved with this team in any way is dumbfounding. This team will never win anything with this ownership

People are just being extremely panicky and reactionary right now but this team will never move. Not only the Art Model law makes it extremely difficult but nationwide would never allow it as they would just get a new investor group. In today's age of working from home nationwide and all the other large business in the area needs to have a reason for them to attract upper-middle class professionals to the region and the arena district is a draw as there are many turncoat fans that will support CBJ and have season tickets with us but will change their sweaters to Chicago/Washington when they come to town.

 

[CalBuckeyeRob]

When Babs was hired they spoke of creating channels for people to handle issues - the word was something like "go to the captains, or go to Jarmo, or go to JD, etc..." Perhaps that advice was not followed. But just to emphasize how much we don't know about the situation, maybe it was followed, and maybe the club addressed this issue before it leaked out, and perhaps the leak was just people talking and not realizing that the wrong people would get their hands on the story.

While we don't know all the specifics, we do know it was enough that it forced his resignation. That likely means it was pretty bad and not something that could be justified. Is there anything about Jarmo's past management skills that makes you believe that he would have forced him out if this had not gone public?

 

[Monk]

I was pretty okay with canning Jarmo before for a variety of reasons. Just lately you can list off Gudbranson / Bjorkstrand / Sillinger in the NHL, etc.., so I'd be fine with Jarmo going too.

But I think change for the sake of change is usually not a great idea, I would be if anything less confident if they fired him and replaced him with Rick Nash. Get someone brilliant or keep Jarmo.

I agree, I don't want change for the sake of change. But also, I'm not sure I want a "brilliant old hockey mind" from .. JD's? rolodex. If they have enough NHL-level GM experience to be known as brilliant, I probably don't want them.

Give me a well regarded noobie at this point. I get that noobie & brilliant aren't mutually exclusive, but it sure seems like the classic NHL move - rinse, repeat, recycle the same "brilliant" guys.

 

[BluejacketNut]

People are just being extremely panicky and reactionary right now but this team will never move. Not only the Art Model law makes it extremely difficult but nationwide would never allow it as they would just get a new investor group. In today's age of working from home nationwide and all the other large business in the area needs to have a reason for them to attract upper-middle class professionals to the region and the arena district is a draw as there are many turncoat fans that will support CBJ and have season tickets with us but will change their sweaters to Chicago/Washington when they come to town.

Hopefully so, but with talk of expansion and such, the league really wants to tap into some of the bigger markets, we keep floundering and I wouldn’t be surprised for it to be quietly discussed in league circle

 

[Indy18]

Hopefully so, but with talk of expansion and such, the league really wants to tap into some of the bigger markets, we keep floundering and I wouldn’t be surprised for it to be quietly discussed in league circle

Illegal in Ohio...any team that takes public funding wants to move the state will take control of the team and put it up for sale. The team will only allow to be moved if there are no buyers hence why I said Nationwide would move quick to buy it. Blue Jackets are here until 2042 and considering the growth of the area they are not going to move to Cincinnati/Cleveland instead. Also when you start to include Cincinnati, Cleveland and Dayton which CBJ pulls from the league would be foolish to move away from the 7th largest tv market when all 4 metro areas are combined. The only reason CBJ hasn't made more of an impact is because they well...sucked...since their existence and hard to get a good market started when they don't win but once they do....

Section 9.67 - Ohio Revised Code | Ohio Laws

codes.ohio.gov

 

[MAHJ71]

When will the sword fall on GM Jarmo Kekalainen in Columbus?

He botched the Babcock hire, didn’t have his players’ backs and has one playoff series win in 10 years.

www.dailyfaceoff.com

Not a huge Servalli fan, but asks a question that should be answered by ownership... had hoped it would be today - but it doesn't look like anybody from ownership is scheduled to speak.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

When will the sword fall on GM Jarmo Kekalainen in Columbus?

He botched the Babcock hire, didn’t have his players’ backs and has one playoff series win in 10 years.

www.dailyfaceoff.com

Not a huge Servalli fan, but asks a question that should be answered by ownership... had hoped it would be today - but it doesn't look like anybody from ownership is scheduled to speak.

it's still extremely weird to me that seravalli is 35 and not 55.

but yeah… even as one of the biggest jarmo supporters on this board, i just don't see how it's tenable for him or JD to move forward. they both stuck their neck out for the babcock hire and it was clear that this would be their last swing at an HC anyway.

i get that the timing makes it tough to find an external replacement, but there's no reason at this point to not roll into the season with a flynn/nash tandem leading hockey ops, even if there's an interim title on there. ensures continuity with the roster-building direction. flynn has a great reputation among the analytics crowd, and nash can pick up the "give columbus legitimacy with the players" thing that JD was supposedly here for.

it's wild to me that jarmo and JD both have jobs today. hell, throw in the blue jackets PR head, too.

1. shouldn't have thanked babcock in their statement yesterday
2. shouldn't have released jenner's statement together with babcock's
3. shouldn't have rushed out that statement in the first place
4. shouldn't have centered jarmo and JD's talking points when hiring babcock around how good of a person they heard he was

extremely short-sighted PR moves that made the blue jackets – and jenner, specifically – look worse at every turn.

 

[MAHJ71]

it's still extremely weird to me that seravalli is 35 and not 55.

but yeah… even as one of the biggest jarmo supporters on this board, i just don't see how it's tenable for him or JD to move forward. they both stuck their neck out for the babcock hire and it was clear that this would be their last swing at an HC anyway.

i get that the timing makes it tough to find an external replacement, but there's no reason at this point to not roll into the season with a flynn/nash tandem leading hockey ops, even if there's an interim title on there. ensures continuity with the roster-building direction. flynn has a great reputation among the analytics crowd, and nash can pick up the "give columbus legitimacy with the players" thing that JD was supposedly here for.

it's wild to me that jarmo and JD both have jobs today. hell, throw in the blue jackets PR head, too.

1. shouldn't have thanked babcock in their statement yesterday
2. shouldn't have released jenner's statement together with babcock's
3. shouldn't have rushed out that statement in the first place
4. shouldn't have centered jarmo and JD's talking points when hiring babcock around how good of a person they heard he was

extremely short-sighted PR moves that made the blue jackets – and jenner, specifically – look worse at every turn.

Jarmo's statement thanking Babcock for his professionalism is the biggest head scratcher of the bunch for me.

Not a good look in terms of supporting the players or recognizing the mistake Babcock is said to have made.

But yes, an all around PR mess that was avoidable from the start! -- Another reason why ownership should be showing up & speaking today.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

Jarmo's statement thanking Babcock for his professionalism is the biggest head scratcher of the bunch for me.

press release quotes are never actually written/spoken by the person they're attributed to, they're always written by the team PR staff. jarmo likely had to sign off on that quote (yikes!) but like… as a PR person, how is your immediate inclination not to try to move past it?

the only person on the planet who wasn't going to get upset about the quote thanking babcock is babcock himself. there's no reason for it publicly.

 

[Monk]

press release quotes are never actually written/spoken by the person they're attributed to, they're always written by the team PR staff. jarmo likely had to sign off on that quote (yikes!) but like… as a PR person, how is your immediate inclination not to try to move past it?

the only person on the planet who wasn't going to get upset about the quote thanking babcock is babcock himself. there's no reason for it publicly.

Yeah, what I care about is what's being said directly to the players, which we won't know.

The action here should at least speak loudly.

 

[NotCommitted]

press release quotes are never actually written/spoken by the person they're attributed to, they're always written by the team PR staff. jarmo likely had to sign off on that quote (yikes!) but like… as a PR person, how is your immediate inclination not to try to move past it?

the only person on the planet who wasn't going to get upset about the quote thanking babcock is babcock himself. there's no reason for it publicly.

The way the press release was worded made it sound like whatever Babs did wasn't a fireable offense within his contract and there was some level of mutual negotiating of contract termination involved. So if I had to guess their options were to fire him with full pay (or whatever is specified in the contract) vs. negotiating some kind of termination where they'll probably still end up paying him something but less. But I don't know anything of this stuff, it just didn't read at all like "Babs was fired for bullying a young player", more like "Babs crossed a line and we thank him for his professionalism and being a stand up guy to realize his mistake and that it's better for the team to move on"

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Jarmo and JD officially safe

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Jarmo and JD officially safe

Not surprising. Not really even wrong. Just… something. I don’t feel good about it. I don’t think I’d feel good if the statement had been they were firing JD and Jarmo either.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

The way the press release was worded made it sound like whatever Babs did wasn't a fireable offense within his contract and there was some level of mutual negotiating of contract termination involved. So if I had to guess their options were to fire him with full pay (or whatever is specified in the contract) vs. negotiating some kind of termination where they'll probably still end up paying him something but less. But I don't know anything of this stuff, it just didn't read at all like "Babs was fired for bullying a young player", more like "Babs crossed a line and we thank him for his professionalism and being a stand up guy to realize his mistake and that it's better for the team to move on"

there was no reason for the press release to be framed the way it was, even if it was a mutual termination and not actually fireable.

jarmo's quote could have simply been something like "earlier today, we accepted mike babcock's resignation and elevated pascal vincent to head coach. we are excited to work with pascal and looking forward to working with him when training camp opens."

making jarmo's quote focus on thanking mike babcock when the only person who isn't mad at mike babcock is mike babcock himself is an enormous unforced error.

 

[DarkandStormy]

NHL Must Fully Investigate Blue Jackets Including Management

I’ve been writing about this team on what the kids used to call Twitter for a long time now going back to the Blue Jackets fan protest of Scott Howson. After posting about a variety of issues…

downthefrozenriver.com

From ol' friend of the board, Capn.

Jarmo and JD officially safe

Just sell the team.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

NHL Must Fully Investigate Blue Jackets Including Management

I’ve been writing about this team on what the kids used to call Twitter for a long time now going back to the Blue Jackets fan protest of Scott Howson. After posting about a variety of issues…

downthefrozenriver.com

From ol' friend of the board, Capn.

So weird that he would mention the Howson protest right at the get-go.