Columbus Blue Jackets Front Office Transition Continues
By Frank Walker
On Monday the Columbus Dispatch was the first to report that Columbus Blue Jackets Assistant GM Chris MacFarland was leaving the club after 16 years. He is making a lateral move to the Colorado Avalanche. For those of you who have been paying attention this is the most recent person to leave the Blue Jackets front office over the last few years.
Whenever these moves happen it gives me pause as a fan. Is the Blue Jackets front office in disarray? This concern comes from being a Browns fan. For years I have seen people leave Cleveland and have success in other places or people come into Cleveland who have had success in other places and then fail. It would be heartbreaking for that to happen (come on guys I need one of my teams to be good).
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That isn’t the case though in Columbus. This is the natural evolution of what was always going to happen when John Davidson took over the Columbus Blue Jackets front office. For years the team was really overseen by Mike Priest who brought in people he trusted and maintained a lot of continuity by promoting from within, which is a good thing. Major changes would take place at the top with positions like general manger but for the most part there are a lot of people with tenure down on West Nationwide Boulevard.
Once John Davidson took over it was apparent to the public and should have been understood inside the building that Davidson was going to bring in his own people. The big first move was hiring Jarmo Kekalainen as general manager who brought in his own assistant general manager Bill Zito. There have been other minor changes in the scouting department since then. It can be expected that during the interview process for general manager Davidson was looking for someone who wanted to construct a team in the style and manage it in a way that Davidson wanted. He found this person in Kekalainen.
So no worries CBJ fans; the Columbus Blue Jackets front office changes are just a part of the evolution of this franchise from the one that struggled through each season to one that sets high expectations for itself, it’s fanbase and it’s city.