Aaron Portzline of The Athletic is reporting that Columbus Blue Jackets General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen has apologized to his players in the wake of the Mike Babcock scandal.
Kekalainen himself told the media that he’d apologized to the team for hiring Babcock in the aftermath the former coach’s resignation yesterday afternoon. Blue Jackets ownership released a statement to the media as well expressing their disappointment and frustration with the events of the last week.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff wrote an article today that asked the question “when will the sword fall on Kekalainen?” Kekalainen has been at the helm of the Blue Jackets for a decade now, and while they’ve reached the playoffs in five of the ten seasons, they have had a lot of missteps along the way. Seravalli begins the article with criticism of Kekalainen for thanking Babcock for his services and then begins to dissect the good and bad of his run as Blue Jackets GM. While the team has reached heights they have never seen before, like their playoff series win in 2019, they have had a lot of lows in that time too.
Seravalli is balanced as he highlights Kekalainen’s good drafting record, as well as the two Seth Jones trades (both of which he won), as well as getting the most out of the Nick Foligno and David Savard trades.
But he also finds a lot of room for criticism with some of Kekalainen’s moves as well. Columbus famously emptied the tank in 2019 to trade for Matt Duchene as they knew both Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky would be leaving as free agents that summer. While it got them their first playoff series victory, one wonders how many future assets they could have kept and acquired if they opted to sell at that deadline rather than buying. Couple that deadline with last offseason and a free agent shopping spree that yielded a 59-point season, and it gives you room to wonder if Kekalainen’s tenure (the third longest in the NHL) is coming to an end after the Babcock scandal has once again highlighted some of Kekalainen’s mistakes.
Class act, there, Jarmo. Well done. Some GMs don’t have the stones to do that. But, at the same time, taking Frank’s critique to heart would also go a long way.
Agree and disagree. Right thing to apologize to the players but then goes and thanks the guy that he just had to apologize for.
I’m really not sure what this guy has on Columbus ownership. This is a big misstep.
@TJECK109 – Fair enough. Jarmo being too nice with that move. Babs isn’t a guy to thank for much of anything these days.
Why are we saying the GM did a good job with his announcement? He did what the owners told him he had to do but of course could not let the moment go by without thanking Babcock. If he isn’t fired immediately along with dinosaur Davidson the owners may as well admit the dont care
Kekailainen decisions have led the CBJ nowhere. This guy is coming from a very different hockey system, it was a big question when he was hired and today we know where it led the Jackets…nowhere. Some can say he’ve done good draft picks, I’ll answer that is easy to pick well when you are drafting in the top 10 every year.
But in Columbus, its more a country club, the original owner is not there anymore and thats his heir who command. Their president is an old manager of a company of the original owner and the problem start there. They need to put a real good president otherwise the current set up wont work as the others before. Kekalainen have hired Trevor Timmins the head scout right after he have completly destroyed the Montreal Canadiens. The worst is to come.
And just by his last weeks actions, he hired a guy that he thanks when firing him, and then ask apologises for hire him, how can fell (even if we dont care) Babcock after that??? Kekalainen is not in a very solid estate currently I can tell you, not a guy that will lead you to the Stanley cup for sure and all the players know it.
He got then a boatload of good draft picks and commitments by Gaudreau and Laine. Solid GM terrible leader
Reaching heights they’ve never seen before– winning a playoff series 4 years ago? Not that Columbus should expect to be a marquee franchise, but that’s a low hill.
Psychologically, you get more closure from thanking someone and moving on than not doing so. It’s a good move towards clearing the air and bringing the morale back up. Seems JK does do a fine job with the contracts but could use some help with the more social/PR side of the job. Apologizing is a classy move. Hope they get some good chemistry going there to complement the solid depth of talent.
I’ve seen this problem in many organizations before. JD hired Jarmo, who will always be his subordinate. Jarmo hires a head coach who will never be his replacement. A great manager will hire someone who makes him unnecessary so he can advance. If he doesn’t do that, he needs to be replaced. It’s time for a new GM with the credentials and history of a winner. Jarmo had three highly qualified coaches to pick from and he took the one with the worst reputation on hockey.
Who was the 3rd option? Obviously Vincent was the other…
Will the players feelings be recovered by the start of the season??
What’s up with this weird new breed of incel that tries to (somehow) prove how “alpha” they are by bragging how beta they are for their bosses…?
They fancy themselves to be manly little minions, I guess.
I was just curious. When someone asked me to see a picture on my phone I curled up into a ball for 8 days screaming at the top of my lungs. I can only imagine how it must be for professional hockey players to deal with such trauma. No need for all the alpha insults sir. What an alpha you are.
I really don’t understand your post here at all. Curled up screaming for 8 days?
Can you please not judge my trauma. Has anyone ever asked you to see a picture on your phone??? If not, please don’t judge. It’s very traumatic.
I wasn’t judging anything. I just didn’t understand your post.
If your friend starts dating a convicted arsonist, brings her over to your place, and she burns down your house, would him saying “sorry” mean anything?
Jarmo’s press conference:
Hmm hm..Thanks to Mike for his wonderful job with us, he was great, in few time, he made me realized that we need NHL defencemen in our team, even if we are throwing away our futur and draft picks to do that, anyway I’ve hired Trevor Timmins as head scout so better to draft as less that we can…hmm hm, so thanks Mike, you are the best one!
To our players, I’m sorry to have hired Toxic Mike few weeks ago, we knew that he was an horrible person but never, never I can tell you, we tough only one second that he could do that phone thing today, what a smelly piece of shxt!
To our owner, you’ve seen, we have a lot of class by apologizing, those hmmm hm who hired him few weeks ago are terrible but us, as we’ve fired him, we are very competent. So dont worry, during the time you are having a lot of fun in your weekly country club in our corporates lodges, dont worry, we have the things in control for our next Stanley Cup. Thank you!