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Hitchcock Fired

Bart Logan — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:52:53 +0000

The Ken Hitchcock era is over in Columbus. Blue Jackets General Manager Scott Howson announced today that the club has relieved Hitchcock of his coaching duties. Howson also announced that Assistant Coach Claude Noel will fill in as an interim head coach for the the remainder of the season.

Hitchcock was hired November 22, 2006 to replace former Jackets head coach, and Doug MacLean favorite, Gerard Gallant. In just over three seasons with the Blue Jackets, Hitchcock compiled a record of 125-123-36. Last season he led the franchise to its first playoff appearance, only to be swept in the first round by the Detroit Red Wings.

In 14 seasons as a head coach with Dallas, Philadelphia and Columbus, Hitchcock has a record of 533-349-88-70. He led the Dallas Stars to the 1999 Stanley Cup title. On February 19, 2009 he became the 13^th coach in NHL history to win 500 career games by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“This season has been very disappointing for the Blue Jackets organization and our fans and the responsibility for that rests with all of us from management to the coaches and players,” said Howson. “Hitch worked tirelessly to build an identity for this team that was missing before he arrived and deserves a great deal of credit for those efforts. He earned and received the opportunity to turn things around this season, but unfortunately that has not happened and it has become apparent that change is in the best interest of our organization.”

Noel joined the Blue Jackets prior to the 2007-2008 season. Before that, He spent four seasons as head coach of the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals where he compiled a regular season record of 183-94-12-31. In 2003-2004, Noel led the Admirals to the Calder Cup championship and received the AHL’s Coach of the Year honors.

“Claude Noel is a good hockey coach with a proven track record in the American Hockey League. He knows our team and is deserving of this opportunity,” said Howson.

Noel will look to attempt to salvage what has been a dismal season for the Blue Jackets starting Thursday against Hitchcock’s former team the Dallas Stars. For those of you keeping track at home, Hitchcock’s first game behind the Blue Jackets bench was against the Flyers.

I’ll do some digging and have a list of potential replacements with some background tomorrow.

Bart Logan

bartftc@gmail.com

Twitter: BartFTC

Interesting Take On Antropov

Jeff Little — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:51:00 +0000

Interesting piece over on TSN.ca from Darren Dreger on Nik Antropov:

There’s a new sheriff in town and Leafs general manager Brian Burke has publicly made it clear the immunity Toronto Maple Leafs players have been protected by in the past no longer exists.
This week Nik Antropov is his target, to the point we shouldn’t be surprised if Antropov soon becomes a healthy scratch in an effort to get him motivated, get him playing better and get him out of Toronto.
So, why now?
Why is Antropov, deemed at the start of the season by Cliff Fletcher to be Toronto’s only top 6 forward, now considered by Burke unworthy of a contract extension?
The answer…timing.
Brian Burke is trying to get Nik Antropov going so he can ship him out.
The trade deadline is three weeks away and at the moment Burke has little or no outside interest in Antropov, once believed to be a player who could command a first or high second draft round pick via trade.
It would be foolish for Burke to criticize a player he deemed valuable, so instead he’s publicly calling Antropov out in hopes the veteran forward finds his game; a game where goal scoring disappeared for 16 straight this season and glaringly shows Antropov was -10 in December and -5 in January.
Rival gm’s haven’t reached the panic stage yet and Burke is positioning for that moment to arrive.
When it does, on March 4th, or perhaps earlier, Burke wants to make sure Nik Antropov is a player teams are willing to pay for.

So, it appears that we have at least tacit confirmation that Antropov is indeed on the block. Also interesting to hear that there has been “little or no outside interest”. The heat is starting to be turned up!

Monday Miscellany

Jeff Little — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:50:00 +0000

Here is this week’s installment of tidbits from here and there:

Nash To IR — This was reported by Puck-Rakers this morning. Normally, this would be a 3-Alarm post all to itself, but the nature and circumstances of the move lead me to thing there is nothing particularly sinister here. Retroactive to January 6, MacKenzie called up, and Howson states that they needed the roster spot. He said Nash wasn’t moving as quickly as expected, but no setbacks. He could be available as early as the Friday NJ contest. I would like to have him available for the NW Canada trip, but more important that he is around for the long haul. A nice luxury to have the play from our youngsters that makes this approach even possible.

Toronto Rumblings — Interesting item from The Hockey News today:

Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle has long been a subject of trade rumors this season and last week he added fuel to the fire by saying he’d be willing to waive his no-trade clause if requested by management.Leafs GM Brian Burke has stated he won’t ask any of his players currently with no-movement clauses to waive them, but it’s believed if one of them – be it Kaberle or fellow Leafs blueliner Pavel Kubina – wants out he’d be willing to deal them. It might be in the players’ best interests to request a trade now when the two would have a say in their potential destinations. Should the Leafs miss the playoffs, there’s a clause in their contracts that provides Burke a two-month window to deal them to any NHL team without permission. The Leafs aren’t about to tank the season to try to land in draft lottery contention for the 2009 first overall pick, but a package centered around either Kaberle or Kubina could be used by Burke to try to land a high pick come this June’s entry draft.

Thus, while not earth-shattering by itself, it does lend credence to the theory that Toronto would make people available for draft picks, meaning the CBJ could well be in the hunt there. This would enable Toronto to stock up for the draft without “officially” tanking the season. Of course, if they part with Antropov, Kaberle and/or Kubina . . .

Playing Dress-Up — Also from THN is the following from Adam Proteau’s blog:

Steve Mason may single-handedly be responsible for me getting dressed up like a Civil War soldier for a future game in Columbus. I’m slowly coming to terms with this, but if the rest of his Blue Jackets teammates don’t do much to help Mason out, I think they should have to wear the damn antique clothing too.

Colorado Bulletin Board Material — Finally, as if we ever need incentive to beat the Avalanche, with or without Adam Foote, the following is Adrian Dater’s blog entry for today in the Denver Post:

Rayzor will again be the Avs’ padded guardian of the corded igloo tomorrow in the land that gave you Wendy’s hamburgers and Woody Hayes. That’s four straight starts for Rayzor, while Boods contemplates losing his starting job for the second straight season right around the midway point, this time to a different goalie.
No Adam Foote on the trip (sorry, to those bitter Columbus fans who were anticipating taking out their life’s frustrations on him in what would have been his first game back in the CBJ. I guess they’ll just have to go back to burning Michigan and USC flags instead – 35-3, Buckeye fans, OUCH!) and no Ian Laperriere either.
No Rick Nash for the Dinner Jackets either. Placed on IR today, retroactive to Jan. 6. That would make him eligible to return for tomorrow’s game, but it won’t happen. He’s out with a bum knee.

Let me see, CBJ beats Avs 4-2 and 6-1 in their house, and he is talking smack? Here is link to his blog for intrepid readers desiring to comment. I might just drop a word or two in myself . . .

Go Jackets !!!