Columbus Blue Jackets FanSided AMA: June 2023

Ole CBJ Dad (is that Norwegian?) asks: With the OEL buyout coming a week after Jarmo’s moves, do you think there’s any “buyer’s remorse” so to speak with the CBJ front office?

Nah, I don’t think so. At least, not if we’re talking about Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson. Think of it like this: if we’re finding out about Oliver Ekman-Larsson this weekend, how long do you think the Canucks have been trying to explore trade options for him?

My guess is, the Jackets probably had several discussions with the Canucks. Honestly, knowing how these things work, probably as far back as the trade deadline or maybe even before that. Nobody wanted to take on that contract, which is why it had to be bought out. As far as signing him after the fact? I would have reasonable suspicion there as well…

I think comparing him to a guy like Provorov is apples to oranges. Provorov has proven to be a capable D zone player, while OEL is a puck mover whose best years were, well, years ago. Like several years. He’s put up 29 and 22 points over the last two seasons, and missed a ton of hockey during that time. Seems like a regressing asset, that they probably would have signed to a contract not dissimilar to Erik Gudbranson’s $4×4 deal in free agency. If they have any buyer’s remorse at all over the last two years, my gut says it’s probably Gudbranson, so, OEL wasn’t happening, no matter how you shake it down.

Go Jackets asks: When do you think they decided on firing Brad Larsen? It seems like it was definitely before the season ended since Jarmo was very strong in saying they absolutely needed a change. Why not fire him in February and have a couple months to see if Pascal Vincent is the guy?

Merely speculating here, but I think they decided to move on from Brad Larsen sometime around November. You could see that things weren’t going their way, and nothing was being done that gave anyone, anywhere in the organization, any confidence that he could fix it. Gudbranson’s comments about the practices being soft were really telling, and the fact that nobody really said anything to the contrary, is also telling. They just sorta … let it play out.

Even though they made the decision at that point, I think they stuck with Lars for a couple of reasons. One, he’d been with the organization for such a long time, that I think they felt some sense of loyalty was due. Give him a chance to figure it out, which obviously never happened. And two, because, at that point, they were so far out of things, that firing their coach and hoping for a quick turn-around, was ultimately just going to flush away this team’s chance at having a high pick in a draft that could go down as one of the best of all-time. They punted and took the pick.

I’ve said before, and I’ll fall back on it again: I think Lars was hired because they thought he might fail in this role. They knew they were going to be heading through a rebuild one way or the other, so bringing on a coach like this meant they would either fail spectacularly and have high picks … or he would surprise us all and become one of the best coaches in the league, thus eliminating the rebuild altogether. Let’s be honest: they weren’t really going to contend with the rosters they’ve had over the last two years, so if he could have gotten it done, he would have been a Jack Adams contender.

If you look at it from that perspective, even though it was hard, this year was really a success. By keeping Larsen on board and putting up with the suffering for a few months, this team is now better positioned than it has ever been. Next week, they’ll draft the best prospect they’ve ever had. Would that be the case, if they’d fired him in November?