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[Fired] Kekalainen out as GM in Columbus


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1 hour ago, flickyoursedin said:

Very unfortunate for him with Johnny hockey showing up at his door wanting to play in Columbus. I don’t think Jarmo’s been bad but I mean Columbus has been a bottom feeder for too long that he had to get fired.

What? He should have been fired for the Babcock bs Jarmo has been awful. 

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1 hour ago, aGENT said:

 

Who hasn't even been THAT bad, coming off freaking KNEE SURGERY.

No but he’s injury prone in his career and have 32 freakin points as his career high. Either lower cap hit or way shorter term. So far in the 2 season he’s no where close to living up to his contract being good defensively isn’t worth 4.75

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2 minutes ago, Optimist Prime said:

He will find another job quickly. This is a case of not being able to fire the team.

He was there for 11 years.  For better or worse he built that team so there's really no one else to blame for that.  No one in the NHL is going to be looking at him as a sought after commodity is my guess. 

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I remember wondering at the time if Columbus was going after JT when he was available. Maybe a trade and sign. There was never any rumors, but I believe they dropped the ball there. Not hindsite as I remember talking about the fit. 

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3 minutes ago, Fanuck said:

He was there for 11 years.  For better or worse he built that team so there's really no one else to blame for that.  No one in the NHL is going to be looking at him as a sought after commodity is my guess. 

The franchise was in the playoffs once before him and five times with him. They were roughly a 500 team last year and this year taking the ultimate dip for Celebrini, i am guessin.  Still, you are right and I am not against his being fired. I just think he will work again. 

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Next GM has their work cut out for them.

 

The organization has a ton of work to do, and I suspect it's not even just revamping the roster. They have had decent prospects come through in recent years (not least being Fantilli) but really haven't seemed to be able to develop them well.

 

I would expect the organization to need at least a couple years to start clearing out bad contracts, signing lower term, low cost veterans, and stocking up on picks/prospects for some of the assets they do have (e.g. Jenner). Who knows, maybe some of their younger players may also move on.

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7 minutes ago, Optimist Prime said:

The franchise was in the playoffs once before him and five times with him. They were roughly a 500 team last year and this year taking the ultimate dip for Celebrini, i am guessin.  Still, you are right and I am not against his being fired. I just think he will work again. 

 

Maybe, but perhaps not as a GM, doubt anyone will be chomping at the bit to hire him as a top guy

 

AGM maybe

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1 hour ago, Rekker said:

Yip. Didn't JR just come out and say how impressed they are with his development?

And Podkolzin is only 22. Not 23 until the summer. 

 

Trading him would be beyond stupid. He's the exact power forward we need.

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Jarmo Kekäläinen is a pretty good example of the Peter Principle: being good at every job you do until you get promoted to a position where you fail.

 

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He did good things for St. Louis.  And he did good things for Columbus when he first started out.  But he was a total mess these last few years.  The Blue Jackets are a shining example of why centre depth is so important in the NHL.  They never had any.  They always needed a first line centre, and they never got one.  They tried in Pierre-Luc Dubois.  That didn't pan out, so they traded him for... a winger (Laine), who also didn't pan out.  And then in free agency, he signed up Johnny Hockey, a marquee... winger.  Didn't pan out.  So now you've got guys like Kent Johnson, who's been ragdolled between the AHL and NHL all year.  You also have Adam Fantilli, who has repeatedly been deployed as a fourth line winger.  That actually reflects poorly on Vinny Pascal, who has completely pissed off every single young player on the team.  But then why is VP the head coach?  Ah yes... that mistake is on JK too.

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1 hour ago, Caboose said:

This guy took the "worst GM in the league" mantle from Benning and ran with it. Hopefully CBJ figures it out soon, their fans have been getting the short end for a long time. 

 

1 hour ago, Fanuck said:

He was there for 11 years.  For better or worse he built that team so there's really no one else to blame for that.  No one in the NHL is going to be looking at him as a sought after commodity is my guess. 

 

The overall consensus among Jackets fans is that he tried and failed to build up a solid core, but that there are enough future pieces there to be optimistic about.  It's just that right now, none of them are happy.  I'm sure JK will be a good AGM wherever he goes, or maybe he'll just head back to Finland and work there.

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