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Zero wins, seven losses and a coaching change. Todd Richards is out and John Tortorella is in.
I won’t be the first to say that Richards is a phenomenal coach, and was a phenomenal coach for the Columbus Blue Jackets. His record in Columbus goes down as 127-105-21 from 2011-12 to 2015-16, including the only two playoff wins in Blue Jackets history.
It was obvious a change, some sort of change, was needed. But was it the right change?
Richards got everything he could out of this bunch and it appeared as if the wizard had lost his wand. It’s a shameful situation that the fall guy has to be the head coach, especially considering the overwhelming loyalty and respect everyone in the organization has for HCTR.
Still, something had to change. Jarmo Kekäläinen is the man behind the moves for this team and while there were lots of optimism surrounding the team, from its roster and the addition of Brandon Saad, to talks about the playoffs, Jarmo went as long as he could as the team continued to sputter. That said, defense was an issue before the season and still is.
Tortorella has tremendous experience from his time as a head coach when he won the Stanley Cup in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and when he led the New York Rangers to the Eastern Conference Finals. He’s a fiery coach, and he is not afraid to tell it like it is.
This might be the spark Columbus needs as they try to shake its seven-game losing streak. As an analyst, Tortorella considered the Jackets an Eastern Conference favorite. He stood by those comments as recently as a few days ago, in spite of the alarming rate of goals being allowed.
No matter who is coaching this team, the same issues are present at the outset. They have been outscored 34-13, the defense — a perceived weakness before the season — has been dreadful having allowed a league-worst 4.86 goals per game, and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is seeking confidence. The teams’ save percentage is also a league-worst .836. Tort will not let easy mistakes go by unnoticed and players will feel the wrath that is Tortorella.
We’ve seen the good of Tort through the years and the bad — most notably his last coaching stint with the Vancouver Canucks.
There are also interesting parallels to the John Davidson-led Blue Jackets of today, and the Davidson-led St. Louis Blues of 2006-12. The Blues entered 2011 with lofty expectations but fired head coach Davis Payne amid a 6-7 start. That coaching change led to Ken Hitchcock, who like Tortorella, is a hard-nosed, grind it out, taskmaster.
Obviously very similar situation here in Columbus. We will see if this change, that I believe can lead to immediate short-term success, can stay the course for the long-haul.
William Chase is a New York Yankees and Columbus Blue Jackets writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @William_Chase88 “Like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on LinkedIn and Google.
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