Steve Dangle discusses the Columbus Blue Jackets decision to fire General Manager Jarmo Kekäläinen. Was this the right decision? Was it the right time to make the move? How did he perform during his tenure in Columbus? Find out all that and more here!
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28 Comments
This boils down to ownership, as with every professional sports organization. The patience they had shown with the cancerous culture Jarmo & Davidson created leads one to believe that they are comfortable just taking the level of annual profits they take from it, and that's it. There is a very long laundry list of fundamental issues the organization has that I could list here, but what is centric to it all is an ownership group that needs to be more committed on multiple levels. Until that changes fundamentally, the situation will remain the same.
It does make me wonder a little what trades he was in the middle of negotiating that they decide NOW of all times is the right time to let him go, instead of before the season started with Babcock or anytime before the All Star break when the team was just bad. It was time for him to go, but for this season at least it was either past time or too early, so they of ccourse picked the most awkward in-between time.
Are team is terrible we can't get the puck out of our D-zone can't consistently make or receive a pass. we look like a bunch of 6-year-old beer Leagers. This all lies at the feet of our ownership. they don't understand the game or how to hire great managers. they have bought the loyalty of professional boot lickers and ass kissers John and Jarmo. it's so frustrating being a jackets fan the amount of disappointment and jealousy is crazy win you watch the way other teams operate. We have a bunch of great young players. we could be a competitive team in a few years. they need to clean out the front office and get this right. we the 5th line are tired.
Nailed it!!!!!
As a CBJ fan from year 1, I have a couple of points to make…. first, the management team from before Jarmo was at best a dumpster fire. Second, how do those numbers on contracts compare across other GMs in the league over the past 11 seasons? Third, five playoff seasons in 11 years sounds bad (well its not good) but the 10 seasons before 1 playoff appearance (swept by Red Wings round 1). Fourth 8 of 11 seasons the team averaged a point a game or better, first 10 years, once. So while Jarmo did not have success with the CBJ compared to the rest of the NHL, he did have success with the team from where they were when he arrived.
I don't understand the money spent argument. That's true of every single team that isn't consistently successful, especially since there's a cap floor. There have only been a handful of teams that have won the cup in the past 20-30 years. So the rest of the league is setting their money on fire? The Jackets are bad enough without having to invent arguments to make them seem worse.
And feel free to continue to downplay the qualifying round win over the Leafs by refusing to call it the playoffs. It reinforces how petty fans can be.
I would say Jarmo get's some leach on the lack of success because they've had the pieces, but the pieces didn't stay (Bobrovsky, Panarin, Jones, Dubois when talking about the good one…). And they even have the pieces on ice NOW, except…
Goaltending. Jarmo wasn't able to fix that and bet on a wrong horse (not sure if Korpi would have been worlds better, but Merz sure wasn't the right pick).
Another one where he (and I'd bet Davidson had a big say here recently) has been coaching. Vincent was a decent pick on a pinch, but Larsen was a long shot and Babcock was… something.
I know they need someone to handle the tradeline, but this screams the same lack of plan that has been seen for the last couple of years; have someone ready to take charge before you sack the previous one!!! Davidson for sure should have been released at the same time. Would have spared the door hinges a bit too. Now they sacked the guy who at least made good trades (value wise, fit is up to debate) right when your biggest chance to make changes with good value is on the door!
Hired Babcock
Signed Gaudreau to an immovable contract
Got a bag of pucks for the Laine trade
And..I can’t say the on-ice performance is anything that resembles good either
At least the CBJ are smart enough to fire someone if they suck this season. Leafs paid Keefe a mega extension and are keeping him after failure seasons over and over.
Way overdue firing, and keeping Davidson proves the Blue Jackets ownership is still way out of touch. They should have cleaned out both of them months, if not years ago.
Can we revoke Johnny Gaudreau's nickname now? It doesn't seem fair he's called Johnny Hockey anymore.
Leafs next GM 😅
Pretty sure Davidson is still here because if he was fired ownership would have to find new people themselves and they want nothing to do with the team 🙃 honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he’s fired AFTER he gets a new gm
Was afraid you were going to show that Kekalainen/Babcock interview again. Don't understand how JK survived that?
This has certainly been a season for the Blue Jackets. How do fans of this team not go insane?
Thank goodness. This GM should have been fired years ago.
I can't believe they stuck with him this long. I feel so bad for Columbus fans. On a slightly nit-picky note, I urge you to fix one grammatical issue that you (and most sports commentators) are guilty of. It's "number" of trades, not "amount." Anything you can count is "number." It's "number of beers" but "amount of beer." Thanks for listening.
Next to year we will be decent hopefully
First order of business: trade Laine to the Jets for Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari. OK, maybe not, but it would be funny.
I love to say we have been rebuilding for 23 years
200 iq Babcock get a job guaranteed pay. Do something controversial immediately. Have to “step away” but still get paid.
I live in Columbus. I'm friends with former players. The fans are getting tired of losing. Last season, it was a sell out almost every night. This season, not even close. They have to give tickets away just to get people into the games. Is Columbus a hockey town? Heck ya. But when you go to games, there are more fans of the visiting teams. If they could put together a winning culture, that would change.
Steve I really miss you covering more than just the Leafs. This was a good one. Thank you!
Who needs Steve opinion on this?
If Columbus wasn't such a shithole to live in they'd have an awesome hockey team right now
I'd be happy to give them Shanahan… 😐
Now only if the Toronto Maple Leafs had the foresight to fire Shanahan.
@joeygrossbeak4092
0 seconds ago
Davidson is just barely keeping ahead of being fired himself, what has he done except skip from job to job: Blues, Rangers and Blue Jackets-; remember he blamed Babcock for everything last summer and I wrote then : their "Season is toast."
Thought it was odd Davidson said Jarmo “ will always be a blue jacket “ when he’s doing a presser about his firing.
It's the trade deadline?