In a whirlwind week that saw the Columbus Blue Jacket season go from cautiously optimistic about their upcoming season; to doom and gloom after a 90-second segment of a popular podcast, Mike Babcock resigned as head coach of the team on Sunday afternoon.
Right away, this outcome should come as no surprise. In fact, we posed the question in a Twitter poll on Friday: did the team need to fire Babcock, regardless the outcome of the league’s investigation into the alleged phone misconduct? We wondered if there might be a rift forming in the locker room before the season even kicked off, or if the distractions might be too much.
Do the Blue Jackets have to fire Mike Babcock at this point, regardless the outcome of the investigation? #CBJ
— Union and Blue (@UnionAndBlue) September 15, 2023
Babcock cited this exact scenario in his statement this afternoon:
"“Upon reflection, it has become clear that continuing as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets was going to be too much of a distraction,” said Babcock. “While I’m disappointed to not have had the opportunity to continue the work we’ve begun, I know it’s in the best interest of the organization for me to step away at this time. I wish everyone in the organization well in the upcoming season.”"
By resigning, Babcock lets the team off the hook for his contract, which may ultimately be the saving grace for GM Jarmo Kekalainen and President John Davidson. This can only be looked upon as the most disastrous hiring in franchise history. In fact, it’s probably one of the worst in the history of the league. No matter how you look at it, this was an inexcusable fumble that should absolutely bring some hard questions to both of them, and anyone else that was involved in the hiring process.
The Jackets named assistant coach Pascal Vincent as the new head coach in place of Babcock. Vincent is widely thought of one of the strong “up and coming” coaches in hockey, and he will have his work cut out for him right away. All he has to do is pull the locker room back together, get everyone on the same page before Wednesday, and coach an NHL team for the first time. By the way, they finished 31st overall last year. Piece of cake, right?
The team will hold a press conference tomorrow that is said to include Davidson, Kekalainen, and Vincent. We’ll continue to bring the news and our reactions as things continue to progress – be sure to stay tuned to our website and our social media channels.
As fans of the team, we have to hope that the players can quickly turn their focus to the upcoming NHL season. There is no bigger cure in sports than winning, and that’s all we can hope for at this time.