Columbus Blue Jackets Front Office, Coaches, Still Without Contracts

It’s early August and the Columbus Blue Jackets leadership are without contracts for the 2019-2020 season.

It has been a tumultuous offseason for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky are still without contracts and the future in Columbus is uncertain. That is also the case with the Jackets President, General Manager and Head Coach.

All three are without a contract at the end of this upcoming season and each face big challenges in their final season as they hope to stay with the franchise. John Davidson, Jarmo Kekalainen, and John Tortorella have helped take this franchise to a new high, but will it be enough for them to stay?

John Davidson has been at the helm of the slow climb of this organization from the depths of the professional sports world to respectability. Once viewed as one of the worst run organizations in sports, Davidson has turned this organization around since he came aboard in 2012.

Columbus Blue Jackets

But there are still questions regarding this franchises reputation among players and it’s ability to attract, and retain, big name players. Most players rant and rave about this city and the franchise but is there more John Davidson can do to help Jarmo sign free agents?

Jarmo was brought to Columbus by Davidson. The two had known each other for years as they both spent time in St. Louis; JD as the team president and Jarmo as an assistant general manager.

Drafting has been pretty solid for Jarmo over the years. He has several players he selected making a major impact at the NHL level like Zach Werenski, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alexander Wennberg. The Columbus Blue Jackets still have a plethora of young talent to develop and are the NHL’s youngest team, much to the credit of Jarmo and his solid drafting.

And there is no doubt Jarmo has made some great trades over the years. The Jackets are clearly the winners of the Seth Jones–Ryan Johansen trade as well as the Artemi Panarin for Brandon Saad deal.

Jarmo’s handling of the Panarin situation going forward will heavily influence what the fanbase think’s about his tenure but let’s not forget all of the great moves Jarmo has made. And even if Panarin leaves, the Jackets will have got two great years out of him for Saad who isn’t on nearly the same level as Panarin. The great drafting and trades have certainly earned Jarmo an extension.

Finally Torts is without a contract as well. I believe his future is the most uncertain with the team. Torts has a history of wearing thin on the team’s players after a while and that time might be coming soon. In fairness Torts is much more mellow than he was at previous head coaching spots in the NHL so that day may never come.

Torts though should be expected to win a playoff series with this team this season. Back-to-back playoff appearances is great but 2018-2019 has to be the year where the Jackets move on to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Torts has to lead the team there this year or he may not be back with the team.

The decisions regarding the future of JD, Jarmo, and Torts will have massive impacts on not on the future of the Columbus Blue Jackets but the entire NHL. What happens with Panarin is still this organization’s biggest question mark but the future of the front office staff and Torts are a close second.