On This Date: Jarmo Kekäläinen Is Hired By The Columbus Blue Jackets
Jarmo Kekäläinen was hired on this date in 2013.
In the last few years, he's taken some major heat. And it all boiled over this summer with the hiring/firing of Mike Babcock.
Many fans point to that event as the "last straw", but many people also defend him. The team, compared to itself has been more successful in the last 11 years than it was in the previous 12. So is the heat warranted?
Let's take a look at some of the highlights and lowlights from Jarmo's career.
*I left out the half season he worked in 2013.
Highlights
- First European general manager in the National Hockey League.
- 3rd longest tenured GM currently.
- Assistant general manager of Finland's national team for the 2022 Olympic Games.
- Record - 374-326-82 - 830 pts
- 5 playoff appearances - 15-26 record
- 2 playoff series wins (yes the qualifying round counts per the NHL)
- Hiring of John Tortorella - 227-166-54 - 4 playoff apps.
- Hosted 2015 NHL All-Star game.
Notable Trades *did not include every consideration or pick in the trades below
- Traded Steve Mason to the Philadelphia Flyers.
- Traded Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett, and John Moore to the New York Rangers for Marion Gaborik.
- Traded Jonathan Marchessault to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
- Traded RJ Umberger for Scott Hartnell.
- Traded James Wisniewski to the Anaheim Ducks for William Karlsson, Rene Bourque and the pick that became Kevin Stenlund.
- Traded Artem Anisimov and Marko Dano to the Chicago Blackhawks for Brandon Saad.
- Traded Ryan Johansen to the Nashville Predators for Seth Jones.
- Traded Dalton Prout to the New Jersey Devils for Kyle Quincey.
- Unloaded David Clarkson's contract to the Vegas Golden Knights.
- Traded Brandon Saad to the Blackhawks for Artemi Panarin.
- Traded Keegan Kolesar to Vegas for the pick that became Alexandre Texier.
- Acquired Matt Duchene from the Ottawa Senators for prospects and picks. One of the picks ended up not going to Ottawa, and that pick became Yegor Chinakhov.
- Traded Josh Anderson for Max Domi.
- Traded Pierre-Luc Dubois for Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic.
- Traded David Savard for picks. One of those picks became Jordan Dumais.
- Traded Nick Foligno for picks. A pick that later became Corson Ceulemans.
- Traded Seth Jones to the Blackhawks for picks and Adam Boqvist. The picks later became Cole Sillinger and David Jiricek.
- Traded for Jake Bean from the Carolina Hurricanes.
- Traded for Jake Voracek by sending Cam Atkinson to the Philadelphia Flyers.
- Traded Oliver Bjorkstrand to the Seattle Kraken.
- Traded Joonas Korpisalo and Vladislav Gavrikov to the LA Kings.
- Traded for Ivan Provorov.
- Traded for and signed Damon Severson.
Lowlights
- See several trades above. The Oliver Bjorkstrand trade hurt many fans, especially since it was seen as a salary dump to fit in Johnny Gaudreau, Patrik Laine, and Erik Gudbranson.
- The Mike Babcock fiasco.
- Several players claiming they didn't want to play in Columbus anymore. The names include Sergei Bobrovsky, Artemi Panarin, Josh Anderson, and Seth Jones.
- There is a stigma that players don't want to live and play in Columbus, but recently, NHL insiders claim it's not the city they don't want to play for, it's the front office.
- Only 2 playoff series wins.
- 5 head coaches in 11 years.
Jarmo Kekäläinen has one season left on his current contract, and many around the league wonder if he'll be around to finish that contract. There's no doubt that he's been good for this franchise, but people in Columbus want more. This city is starved for a winning hockey team and will support them through thick and thin. But these last few seasons have really brought the people in and around Columbus to their knees. They continue to fill Nationwide Arena night in and night out, but how much longer is that going to last?
The city and fans are begging for a winning team, they deserve that.
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