New Sheriff in Town

Todd Richards was an authoritative voice in his 1st practice

Todd Richards ran his first practice for the Columbus Blue Jackets today.  The difference was palpable.  Richards was firm and authoritative throughout the practice, and he clearly has some things he wants to change.  If a drill wasn't started the way he wanted it, he'd stop it and make them start over.  He worked the players hard.

It seems clear that he has changes in mind in defensive zone coverage, as well as on the offensive side.  A 5 on 5  D zone drill late in the practice got spirited, and he jumped in, insisting that the players on offense not concede anything.  The pace quickly picked up.

From my seat half way up the lower bowl, I could clearly hear him (and my hearing is nothing to write home about) telling the centers to 'get out there, no lazy circles' and telling them that the coverage he wanted was going to be hard work.  I don't know how the players felt about it, but it was music to this fan's ears.

The Long Climb to Respectability

Sergei Federov as a Blue Jacket

Now that it has faded from view a bit, I'd like to discuss the hiring of Craig Patrick as a senior hockey adviser for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the context of the franchise's history.  In the early years, I remember well that we had a roster of secondary players that was never able to generate the crazed and desperate energy of the inaugural squad.  We had drafted Nash and Zherdev, but they were young, and relatively unproven.  Then, after the lockout, early in the 2005-06 season, the trade for Sergei Federov was consummated.  This guy just oozed hockey respectability, and as such was a real addition to the roster.

After the 2005-06 season, Adam Foote was added to the roster as a free agent.  These guys were real, honest-to-goodness, hockey names, that carried instant recognition.  You will notice, of course, that the early steps towards respectability came through the acquisition of known players.  This, however, did not translate to success on the ice.  Thus, the franchise needed to make its next step towards respectability, the acquisition of Coach Ken Hitchcock.

Part VI: The Dark Blue Jacket's Definitive History of the CBJ

Hitchcock working the Blue Jackets bench.

Hitchcock Retrospective


Now that Ken Hitchcock has accepted a job with the St. Louis Blues, it is time to take a look at the legacy Hitch left for the Columbus Blue Jackets organization.  First and foremost, Hitch remains the winningest coach in franchise history, a status that is unlikely to be threatened any time soon.  In addition, he left the legacy of the only playoff appearance in franchise history.  


While we might have debated this issue in August, in the crystal clarity of hindsight, it now appears that the CBJ are past the high point that was the Hitchcock era, and must now rebuild to find those heights again.  As a glass half full kind of guy, I don't think we are that far off from being there again.  On the other hand, there are some real lessons lying out there in the retrospective, that I am not sure we have learned as an organization yet.


As a disclaimer, I am going to note that at the time, I agreed with most of the moves I am going to dissect as potentially wrong later in the post.  I am looking with 20-20 hindsight, and could not perceive these things at the time.  Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it (Santayana).  As a fan, I don't want to repeat the past, in spite of the evidence in front of our eyes in 2011-12.

Part V: The Dark Blue Jacket's Definitive History of the CBJ

The Howsonian Era -  The Later Stagnation Period to the New Reformation!

The Columbus Blue Jackets Cannon Logo

Arrrggghhh!  This thing has me by the throat, and the puck drops tomorrow!!  Must....blog......harder....    OK, ok, focus.

We last left this tale at the end of the glorious 2008-09 season, when the Columbus Blue Jackets lifted the playoff stigma from their resume, and made the post season for the first time.

By virtue of their strong showing, they picked 21st in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, selecting Defenseman John Moore.  In the off season they parted ways with Freddy Modin, Michael Peca, and Jason Williams.  Optimism was high, the pundits largely picked the squad to finish where it had the previous year, much as they are picking the 2011-12 CBJ to finish where they did last year (shocking newzzzz!)

Part IV: The Dark Blue Jacket's Definitive History of the CBJ

The Hitchcock Restoration

A Columbus Blue Jackets Civil War Logo

Ken Hitchcock was coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets from November 22, 2006 to February 3, 2010.  He is the winningest coach in Blue Jackets history, compiling a record of 285 G, 126W, 123L, and 36OTL.  Depending on how you fall out on your view of the shootout, he is the only coach in CBJ history to have a winning record.

In my last post I made the assertion that although many names had changed, the talent level of the team plateaued at about the 2003-04 level.  As evidence for that, I point to Ken Hitchcock's coaching record.  Prior to coming to Columbus, as a head coach he had never coached a team in the NHL for the entire year and not made the playoffs.  That is, until he coached the 2007-08 CBJ squad.

Don't get me wrong.  I think he was kind of fond of that team, because he believed that the team had maxxed out.  That they had given him everything that they had.  But it wasn't enough, they simply lacked the talent to be a playoff team.  But I am jumping ahead.

Ken Hitchcock's coaching career for the CBJ served as a bridge between two General Managers, Doug MacLean and Scott Howson.  As such, Coach Hitchcock holds a very important place in CBJ history.

An Open Letter to Ken Hitchcock - Time to Re-Invent

Dear Coach Hitchcock,

Ken Hitchcock busy cleaning up the oil spill, back in year 1.

I am a big fan of yours.  I will always appreciate the stability you brought to Columbus, and the way you laid the foundations for a winning attitude.  I think that will be a lasting legacy in Columbus, and I hope that we as fans never forget what you sacrificed for our team. 

But now we need to move on to more important things, your next coaching interview.  This is kinda tricky, because there isn't a really big market out there in the NHL for defensively minded coaches who have won Stanley Cups.  Its all about the Oh-fence (ah-fense to us Yanks) these days.  So to be successful in your next job interview, I'd like to suggest that you 're-invent' yourself as an offensively minded coach.  And they guy I'd suggest you model yourself after is a guy named Ken Hitchcock.

The boiling point

When Doug MacLean was frog-marched out of Columbus, one of the many grievances aired about him was his oft-frantic approach to personnel moves.  I won't admit to a first-hand knowledge of MacLean's foibles as I started following the Columbus Blue Jackets when he had one foot out the door - right before Ken Hitchcock was hired.  Regardless, the terms "circus huckster" and other all-hype/no-results slurs have been tossed his way.  And it appears that trades like that for Sergei Federov were at least in part based upon desperation, not just for improving the team.  And the results were not strong, to put it gently.

[UPDATE: I just read this blog piece about the rebuilding of the NFL's Detroit Lions.  Read this paragraph, substitute Doug MacLean for Matt Millen, and I think you get a sense of where I'm coming from:

Under former GM Matt Millen, the franchise wasted roster spots on blown draft picks and lemon free-agent acquisitions. And, under the multiple coaching changes, never appeared to establish any scheme. As Millen's pokes and prods turned into desperate risks and frantic prayers, the transient, ambiguous roster fed an incessant identity crisis. One that was defined only by failure.

Does that make sense?]

Enter Scott Howson.  Our very own personnel Ice Man (or Ninja GM, depending on the jargon you use) has dropped the organizational blood pressure considerably in Columbus.  He often is loathe to make any moves at all, but he most certainly does not get rolled over when he does.  Consider Antoine Vermette for Pascal Leclaire.  Who won that trade?  Or Tyutin/Backman for Zherdev/Fritsche?

Perhaps the penultimate demonstration of the patience on Howson's part was this entire past offseason.  Staring a disastrous 2009-10 season in the rearview mirror, complete with the firing of likely Hall of Famer Ken Hitchcock and replacing him with Claude Noel, one would think that Howson would take advantage of the drop-off after the 2008-09 playoff year to move some players out, bring some in and improve the roster.

Think again.  The two major roster moves that Howson made were: 1) Claim Ethan Moreau off of waivers, and 2)  Re-sign Steve Mason.  Other than that, Howson essentially said that he liked his roster, and that while he'd like to upgrade the defense, he'd be comfortable taking this squad into the season.  And, yes, he overhauled the coaching staff.

So here we are, the week after Christmas.  Despite what still is the best CBJ start ever, the Jackets are struggling mightily to extricate themselves from a slide that has seen them win a whopping four games (including overtime/shootout winners) since Thanksgiving.  As I've written all over this blog, the Blue Jackets have demonstrated since their dismantling at the hands of the Red Wings that they are incapable of reliably beating any good NHL hockey club with this roster.  It's probably past time to start making moves to get the CBJ out of 12th place in the Western Conference and back into playoff contention.

What we love about Howson - his ability to keep his hand close to the vest until he gets a deal he knows will at least be an even trade if not a win...his willingness to stand pat rather than stir the pot up - is precisely what drives us crazy at times like this.  

A defense of Claude Noel - and Scott Howson

Per the Dispatch, the Columbus Blue Jackets' (interim) Head Coach, Claude Noel, is interviewing today to remove the (interim) tag from his title.  Though a few in the CBJ fan community think this to be an act of charity by General Manager Scott Howson, permit me to offer a few reasons why Noel is a very legitimate candidate...if not a front-runner, in part courtesy of his profile on the CBJ website:

• During his time as head coach of the AHL Milwaukee Admirals from 2003-2007, he led the club to a 183-94-12-31 regular season record, three 100-point seasons and two West Division titles. 
• He also compiled a 33-21 record in the Calder Cup Playoffs, including two appearances in the Finals (2004, 2006). 
• During the 2003-04 season, the club compiled a 46-24-7-3 record and went 16-6 in the playoffs en route to capturing the organization's first Calder Cup championship. That year, Noel was named the AHL’s Coach of the Year.
• In 2002-03, he was named ECHL Coach of the Year with the Toledo Storm.
• He went 10-8-6 as (interim) head coach of a hybrid NHL/AHL team in Columbus, posting that record while Scott Howson jettisoned Raffi Torres, Freddy Modin and Milan Jurcina and backfilled the team with Syracuse Crunchers.  
• He pulled Derick Brassard and Jake Voracek's heads out of the jumbled morass left by Ken Hitchcock.
• He fostered an environment where Steve Mason got competitive again.
• He gave the team back to the players, and Rick Nash and R.J. Umberger took the reins.

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can come up with on short notice.  Point is, he knows this team inside and out and has demonstrated that he knows how to win.  That combination makes him unique against any other candidate.

My point is, Claude Noel IS a legitimate candidate.  I've been saying that for months - go pore through my blog and see how many times I've said that Noel's performance makes him worthy of serious consideration.  

Now, to Scott Howson.  If it's not clear by now, he's no one's fool.  He's dumped the most significant of the Doug MacLean mistakes off on other teams, brought in dynamic young talent in return, restocked a major component of the farm system (the now-overflowing defensive talent pool), rebuilt the team's salary budget for the long haul (no small feat when playing a $50 million hand in a $60 million salary cap league) and - by and large - has avoided overpaying too much of the roster.  Now, it's time for him to pick his coach.  In doing this, he has interviewed the best of the best with a host of different characteristics:

• Dineen & Arniel - Top AHL coaches with experience.  I'll grant that Dineen has sentimental value with the fanbase (although a link to the team's tortured past doesn't seem like an automatic positive to me...), but I honestly doubt that Howson could care less about his past history with the Blue Jackets.
• MacLean (gosh, it still makes me cringe to type that name even though he's no relation to the CBJ's former majordomo) - Top assistant to arguably the best team in the NHL in recent memory.
• Boucher - I know he hasn't interviewed yet, but Howson's clearly leaving the process open to interview this wunderkind who has only won everywhere he's been in his young career.
• Noel - Proven winner (A top AHL coach, too, when he was in the "A") who admirably cleaned up the psychological mess left by Ken Hitchcock.

This is a fantastic roster of candidates, which in and of itself speaks to the program that Howson has (re)built since taking over for the more unfortunate MacLean.  There are no gratuity interviews here - the people who are talking to Howson see the potential of this young and rising team.

This isn't some high school recruiting effort like, say, the "search process" that brought Gordon Gee back to the Ohio State University.  This is a serious, and methodical, search for the ideal candidate for a young team on the rise.  Blue Jackets fans are damned lucky that someone as smart as Scott Howson is the shepherd of this process.

To those who say that this is an open and shut case - that it's been Kevin Dineen's job all along, that Howson is only going through the motions, that Noel is being extended a professional courtesy by even getting an interview - I can only say that you're playing checkers while Howson's cleaning your clock in chess.

The season that had to happen: My thoughts on the CBJ, 2009-2010

To recap the Columbus Blue Jackets' season with a proper perspective, I have to go back to the 2006-2007 season.  Gerard Gallant was the coach, Doug MacLean was strangling the franchise as General Manager and President.  All was lost.  Gallant was fired in November 2006, and Gary Agnew was the interim coach.  I attended my first CBJ games in that period with Mrs. DBJ, and we were both amazed at the inability of the team to do much of anything on the ice.  For that team, with the likes of Sergei Federov and Adam Foote on the roster, getting the puck past center ice against the Red Wings was considered a moral victory.  It was downright painful.

In retrospect, I'm not sure how that experience could have led to me becoming a Blue Jackets fan.  Maybe I'm just a masochist.

Bear with me, good readers, this story has a point.

Claude Noel: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Since Claude Noel took over as CBJ head coach, the team beat Dallas, beat Buffalo, beat San Jose, lost to Vancouver and lost in a shootout to Chicago.  That's  7 out of a possible 10 points - and 3 out of a possible 6 against the top three teams in the Western Conference.  So Noel got 7 points in 5 games.  At the end, Ken Hitchcock got 6 points in his last 6 games.  Considering the Jackets haven't set the world on fire since making the coaching change, is Noel - novelty of his personality quirks and coaching idiosyncrasies aside - performing well enough to keep him on as CBJ head coach?

I'm going to say the obvious: Noel is doing OK - better than Hitch with the same players.  That being said, he hasn't done enough to preclude Scott Howson from conducting a full-blown search for a head coach.  

Game 59/Dallas: My Take

The Era of Square Pegs and Round Holes is gone. It has been replaced by the Era of Group Hugs.

They say that every sports coaching change is like a pendulum swing for a club, going back and forth between the harsh taskmaster and the players coach.  There's no question that Ken Hitchock was the former, and now Claude Noel is trying his hardest to be the latter.  He's chosen to play the nice guy, the cheerleader...and maybe that's what the Columbus Blue Jackets need right now.

Sure didn't hurt tonight, as the CBJ won, 2-1, over the contemptible Marc Crawford and the Dallas Stars (and, no, I'm not forgetting NHL-designated cheap shot artist James Neal, who was remarkably quiet tonight.  He must not have known that Derek Dorsett went on injured reserve.).

The team played a little ragged, which stands to reason when your (interim) head coach Noel proclaims that he's going to stop the over-thinking and ditch the X's and O's at the door.  Again, part of the post-Hitch decompression.

An Irish Wake for Hitch's Coaching Tenure

Before we wade too deeply into the Claude Noel Era, let's take one final moment to appreciate the man who, in the words of the late John McConnell, was the "savior" of the Columbus Blue Jackets franchise.  That's right, the savior.  Ken Hitchcock took the mess that was the Doug MacLean era and, with the assistance of General Manager Scott Howson, re-molded a perennial losing franchise into a Stanley Cup playoff qualifier.

I don't know if Hitchcock's ancestry is Irish (this website suggests that there are a few Hitchcocks in Irish geneology), but Irish blood runs in my veins.  When an Irishman passes on, it's customary to hold an Irish wake. In an Irish wake, the first thing that the visitors do is mourn the loss.  I believe that we did that yesterday.  But an Irish wake has more, as this site suggests:

Even the most sorrowful mourner is inspired to raise a glass and remember the happiest of times in the life of the person who has passed.

I suggest we do the same as Ken Hitchcock brought plenty of joy to CBJ fans everywhere. Let's hold an Irish wake online, sharing our favorite memories of Hitch.

Please add your remembrances of Hitch in the comments.  I'll kick off the wake with a few fond thoughts...

It is done.

According to the Dispatch's Aaron Portzline:

#CBJ fire Ken Hitchcock

And with that, a chapter closes in the brief history of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

This is not a happy moment.  A moment of relief, perhaps, and a chance for hope that things will get better for the CBJ - but by no means happy.  You never want to see a good man, one who puts everything he has into his work, lose his job when losing his job means that he failed.  And Hitch is a good man.

I only hope that Hitch finds his new place in the hockey world quickly, and that the Columbus Blue Jackets make the smart steps forward to secure their very bright future.  Anyone who followed the team closely this year could see that it just wasn't meant to be.

More on this later, I'm sure.

Thank you, Hitch, for all you did for my team.  

UPDATE: The official CBJ statement on Hitch's firing.

Channeling Barry Trotz, Part V

CHANNELING BARRY TROTZ Part I: On The Forecheck's take Part II: Preds 101's take Part III: Pull My (Fang) Finger's take Part IV: Seth Lake's take Part V: Preds on the Glass' take

And we now conclude our investigation of the success of Barry Trotz and the Nashville Predators with the thoughts of Buddy Oakes, blogger at Preds on the Glass...

I really feel bad for y'all in Columbus after making the playoffs last year and then going through all the stuff you are seeing now. I had Eric Smith on our podcast a couple of weeks back and we talked about all the problems. Pre-season, I had a hunch that Steve Mason would not have as good a second year as his rookie campaign and Eric gave me some insight into the personality change that Mason has undergone over the summer. I talked to Mason at the Awards show in Vegas and he was about as shy as anyone I've ever seen that was a public figure. It's hard to believe that he went from that to being so difficult this season.

I know that Hitch and Trotz are friends and actually called Barry on Hitch's coach's show last week to ask him a question about Pekka being left off the Finnish Olympic team.

I think the primary reason for Trotz's longevity is his relationship with GM David Poile that has goes back to when Trotz was with the Washington Caps AHL team when Poile was with the Caps. Trotz was an assistant in 1991 and was named head coach in 92. In 94-95 his team won the Calder Cup and Trotz was the AHL coach of the year. When Poile came to Nashville Trotz followed.

Channeling Barry Trotz, Part III

CHANNELING BARRY TROTZ Part I: On The Forecheck's take Part II: Preds 101's take Part III: Pull My (Fang) Finger's take Part IV: Seth Lake's take Part V: Preds on the Glass' take

[Picking up the pre-vacation series, DBJ readers recall that the Columbus Blue Jackets leadership is apparently looking to model their franchise on the Nashville Predators - especially their coach and general manager.  With all of the hue and cry about coaching and whether Ken Hitchcock is the long-term answer as CBJ head coach (which has largely subsided since the team started playing .500 hockey), I asked a few knowledgable Preds bloggers to offer their insights on coach Barry Trotz and what makes him so successful as Nashville's only head coach.
And we've learned a few lessons along the way...]

LESSON 1: Be a good guy, a relationship builder, a guy who worries about tomorrow as well as today.
LESSON 2: Perhaps its "Southern Hospitality", but In Nashville, Keeping Coaches is What We Do.
LESSON 3: Coaching a Scheme that [Columbus] Needs
LESSON 4: Players Coaches

LESSON 5: Beating Teams and Expectations

Next up, AJ in Nashville, blogger at Pull My (Fang) Finger (nice title!).  AJ was kind enough to engage in a little email dialogue with me on the topic of the Preds success...and offer his thoughts on the Columbus Blue Jackets as well.  This is a well written response, and I've edited the response by bolding what I think are the key points that AJ is making.  Hope that helps.

First off let me say that I'm flattered that you'd think to ask my opinion in the first place! I appreciate your kind words with regard to my blog.

I don't know if you've read the handful of posts in which I've keyed upon the Bluejackets, but I myself have expressed frustration over their retarded (no pun intended, I assure you) development. Don't get me wrong -- I'm always going to root for my team first, but I really like Ken Hitchcock as a coach -- primarily because he's so similar in style to Barry Trotz (and because he started this whole Evil Empire deal -- which means he doesn't take himself too seriously -- and I think that's a plus for ANY coach or sports figure in general).

But yeah, I do believe I have a decent handle on what makes Trotz successful at what he does, but it's a kind of unique circumstance that works well here in Music City but may not elsewhere.

Channeling Barry Trotz, Part II

CHANNELING BARRY TROTZ Part I: On The Forecheck's take Part II: Preds 101's take Part III: Pull My (Fang) Finger's take Part IV: Seth Lake's take Part V: Preds on the Glass' take

LESSON 1: Be a good guy, a relationship builder, a guy who worries about tomorrow as well as today.


My ongoing quest for knowledge about Barry Trotz and the lessons we can learn from his success as a model for professional hockey success in Columbus led me to Josh at the Preds 101 blog.  I love how he describes the purpose of his blog: "A blog about the Predators for the football fan.  I love hockey, and have a lot of friends that would love the game if they knew anything about it.  This is my attempt to explain the game to the fans out there that love football, and would love the Preds if they just knew what the heck was going on."  An honorable mission, one of education for the masses.  My type of guy as I look to learn more about Barry Trotz.

And, boy, did Josh bite.  Not only did he answer my email, but he wrote and posted an entire piece analyzing Barry Trotz on his blog in the course of the day!

Thus, with no further ado, here's the Preds 101 take on my question du jour...

Rosebud

Sometimes it takes the worst of scenarios to occur for the truth to come out.  Like any image-conscious businessman (like, say, Charles Foster Kane), the Jackets would much rather play with smoke and mirrors rather than admit ugly truths.  However, when the days are darkest, tongues loosen.

I'll submit that this just happened with the Columbus Blue Jackets, as reported by Tom Reed at Puck Rakers.  While not the deathbed revelation of Charley Kane (luckily not as cryptic, either), Ken Hitchcock had perhaps the most cogent argument for staying the course with the Blue Jackets despite their 20 loss in 23 game stretch and both fans and media turning their backs on the franchise.

It turns out, after all, that this is part of a larger franchise strategy.  I'll let Hitch speak for himself:

"We maxed out last year and we didn't win a playoff game. We have to get a lot better than that and the only way you do that is by going through the growing pains.

"We are in a winning business and so people have complained that we're not winning right now. If we don't go through this long-term vision -- which could be six months, it could be a year -- then we are not going to be really good when we need to be really good."

THERE!  That's it.  The team leadership had a plan last year - playoffs or bust - and executed it to within an inch of their lives.  But they were wise enough to appreciate that getting to the playoffs and doing something once you're there are two different things.  So they considered their options and decided to suck it up and go the youth route.  It's the long view, but, as Hitch says, the team will be really good when they need to be really good.

Channeling Barry Trotz, Part I

CHANNELING BARRY TROTZ Part I: On The Forecheck's take Part II: Preds 101's take Part III: Pull My (Fang) Finger's take Part IV: Seth Lake's take Part V: Preds on the Glass' take

The Dispatch's Michael Arace offered the "big media" commentary on the firing of St. Louis Blues coach Andy Murray and drew the inevitable comparisons to Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Ken Hitchcock's job security considering the similar coaching arcs in Columbus and St. Louis over the past two seasons.  Both teams, as you know, made a terrific run to get into the playoffs last season, flamed out in the first round, and have had eminently forgettable years this season.  The piece got some followup attention from the likes of Puck Daddy and ESPN.

Within Arace's piece, which I really like (and am glad to say as I don't want to be labelled as an "Arace hater" for my reaction to one of his past pieces), he extracts a team strategy that I'm not sure I've heard before:

President Mike Priest and Howson believe the Hitchcock style is the way to win in the NHL. They would prefer to keep him in place in the same way that Nashville has kept [head coach] Barry Trotz in place. They believe that continuity is critical in a smaller market, and they are standing firm in this conviction.

Now this is very interesting, as I'm full of envy over how the Nashville franchise is run and has had continued success over its 10-ish years. But it also got me thinking: If Priest and Howson are implying similarities in the job statuses of Hitch and Trotz, might we want to see what has made Trotz so successful as the only coach Nashville has ever had?

This demanded further examination.

10 Thoughts about Game 34: Minnesota*

1. Despite only the crowd in the arena actually watching the game (with the rest of us proles listening on radio, hence the asterisk next to this game), the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild appeared to play an NHL-regulation hockey game.  Minnesota won, 2-1.

1a. The loss drops the CBJ to 14-14-6, still at 34 points and now in 13th place in the Western Conference.  That's 5 points below playoff contention and 3 points above the conference cellar.  Not a lot of room for error.

1b. Here are your highlights....oh, no video.  Hmmm.  In it's place, let's pause and review some of the basic rules of hockey:

10 Thoughts about Game 33: Nashville

1. After everyone in the Columbus Blue Jackets' locker room piped in with comments about the "serious," "critical" and "urgent" nature of tonight's game, the Jackets proceeded to play the exact same type of game that they've been playing recently in losing to the Nashville Predators, 5-3.

1a. The Jackets have lost 11 of their last 13 and currently sport a record of 14-13-6 (34 points).

1b. Here are your highlights: