Fanpuck33

It's even more than that. There are two levels of A league, plus Rookie league.

Not saying its not possible that those players didn't get along with Laine, I just question the implication that the Jackets shipped out those guys because they told Jarmo that Laine was a problem in the room. But maybe someone willing to hire Babcock really is that petty and unprofessional.

I've also heard this and usually really respect Portzline, but this one really seemed to come out of left field. Why be willing to go public about the team supposedly hating Elvis, but wait until Laine is gone to say they hated him too? And the timelines don't seem to add up. Sure, shipping out Atkinson for Voracek came out of the blue, but Nyquist was a pending UFA deadline rental, while Jones had made it clear he was gone no matter what. And if those guys were shipping out for crapping on Elvis and Laine, why give the 4th guy, Werenski, a huge extension?

A friend messaged me Friday morning asking if the Blue Jackets were cursed, but I was rushing out the door and didn't think much of it other than, "ugh, now what?" Local radio must have been holding off on an official announcement to say anything, because I didn't find out about it until my boss broke the news to me. Just felt kind of numb all day. For anything Jacket to be gathered with friends and family and tragically die is hard to fathom.

I think you've mixed up red and blue.

My prediction is that nobody makes a viable offer before the season and Laine ends up starting the season in Columbus to try and increase his value and finally moves at the deadline.

Oh my. This really exploded in the comments that I wasn't directly quoted in.

Exactly. Neither Commandant nor I made the comment that you fixated on. We had moved on from that and were discussing Vincent's tenure in more general terms, not just related to GHT's initial comment.

Apparently we're having different discussions because that was never a point I was arguing one way or the other. The length of the previous coach's tenure, whether Roy, Babcock, or Larsen is irrelevant. The argument was never that the Babcock situation itself sabotaged Vincent. It was whether Vincent, having been hired so late in the process, ever had a chance once he had the job.

I mean yeah, you can cut anyone involved with Columbus some slack for poor performance because the whole place is a shitshow. But there's also the fact that he was part of the shitshow for 3 years not making anything better, seemingly making them worse. Like I said, many coaches have been able to change the room on a team with no training camp at all, so not having the job until September means nothing to me.

But what does the length of the previous tenure have to do with the comparison between Bednar and Vincent? And if we are going to make that comparison, it should be to Brad Larsen having the job for 2 years before Vincent. The real comparison is that Bednar and Vincent were both hired much deeper into the off-season than is normal, making their jobs harder. Bednar was hired 2-3 weeks before camp and Vincent just a few days before. I think you underestimate just how dysfunctional of an organization Columbus is. They without a doubt hired Mike Babcock with the intent of competing for a playoff spot last season. You don't replace Brad Larsen with a guy like Babcock to simply "continue the process." But even I didn't imagine that they placed winning ahead of development.

I think an involved owner would have fired both JD and Jarmo as soon as the Babcock situation went down. The Jarmo firing felt more like JD simply preventing Jarmo from making last ditch idiotic moves to try to save his job.

Had not heard those comments. I can't remember JP McConnell ever showing any kind of interest in the team, let alone involvement.

While it certainly wasn't the easiest situation, I've never bought the narrative that he didn't have any chance. Coaches take over teams mid season all the time and are able to adapt on the fly while installing their own system and culture. Vincent actually got a training camp to do that and had already been with the team for two years on top of that. Now, was he a lame duck once Jarmo got fired? I could see that argument. While I had hoped for team improvement in Columbus, I wasn't shocked that they were just as bad as ever. But my main concern with Vincent has how little individual growth there was. Outside of a few good stretches out of the Russian trio, there were a lot more negatives from their young players than positives. Pushing Fantilli to the wing. A lost season for Kent Johnson. Not being able to decide what to do with Jiricek. It really felt like a lost year for the development of the team's youth, which is the primary job of an AHL coach.

And the year he didn't lose in the Final... he lost to the Leafs, which as we all know, no other team has done in the post-04/05 lockout era. Bigger OUCH!