The worst thing for the future of the franchise, if the Columbus Blue Jackets spiral as they have started the season, would be for embattled General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen to be the team’s GM at the NHL Trade Deadline.
As Pale Dragon and I discussed on the Cannon Cast on Tuesday morning, the Columbus Blue Jackets were 4-7-4 through 15 games. This time last season, through 15 games, the Jackets were 4-8-3. This year’s team has one more point, but the same number of wins, as last year’s debacle that got former head coach Brad Larsen fired. Since realizing that, I’ve been thinking a lot about this sentiment that I saw on Twitter recently:
https://x.com/capncornelius/status/1723923781691871730?s=46&t=oyyFnZw9ZNSW_fLCzLOf5Q
As we all know, Jarmo had a rocky offseason – he traded for and then signed Damon Severson long term, to mixed results thus far. He was unable to clear the logjam on defense, resulting in a shuffle of poor, underperforming defensemen while David Jiricek was sent to Cleveland despite being arguably the third best defender in the organization. Most importantly, he was given a mandate from ownership in the wake of the Mike Babcock debacle – the statement from ownership said that “all of the team’s goals are still on the table” while Jarmo spent much of the offseason talking up the Blue Jackets making the playoffs this season. Reading between the lines, it was clear that ownership was drawing a line in the sand – make the playoffs, or Jarmo is out.
The reason I’ve been thinking about that sentiment? The Jackets, following their loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday night, sit dead last in the eastern conference with 12 points at 4-8-4 and a -14 goal differential. Imagine, for a moment, a world where the team gets hot a wins five straight. They make up 5 points in the standings, putting them 12th in the conference, spitting distance of the bubble discussion as we come to the deadline. Jarmo, knowing ownership’s mandate of “playoff competitive or bust”, does not trade Jack Roslovic for a pick at the deadline. He does not find a way to spin Eric Robinson and Andrew Peeke into even future considerations. He hangs on and in fact brings in another bottom six winger to help bolster scoring in the playoff chase, sacrificing future assets for a more competitive team now.
Do y’all see the problem there?
This season is dangerously close to lost already. The Jackets, by points, are not far from the bubble, but they must past at least 8 other teams to make it into a playoff position. In a world where most NHL games are 3-2 finals and not every game is worth equal weight because the loser point exists, it is extremely hard for any team to pass so many in a chase back to a playoff spot. The last thing the Blue Jackets need to compound this season is Jarmo desperately trading assets at the deadline to try to get back to playoff competitive.
If the team continues to struggle, it would behoove the Blue Jackets to pull the plug and either hire the next GM (Jarmo himself was hired mid season) to set up the next run of the club, or appoint an interim with the express intention of selling veteran assets to build a war chest of draft picks and prospects for the future.
The Jackets, if they continue on this trajectory, cannot afford to let Jarmo oversee the management of the team’s assets. The future competitiveness of the club may depend on ownership’s willingness to pull the plug mid season.