Don Waddell just finished his first season with the Blue Jackets. When hired in 2024, he said that he was going to take a long look into all aspects of the organization. He was to fix any issues that he saw and get the organization back on the winning track. Well, one area that he must have thought needed fixing was the conditioning, as he did not renew the contract of conditioning coach Kevin Collins.
The Blue Jackets hired Collins as their strength and conditioning coach in 2010. After 15 seasons with the organization, Waddell decided to make a change. Why? My hunch is that Waddell didn’t believe that the players were in tip-top shape to compete in the NHL. I have a couple of reasons for this hunch.
Injury history is troubling...
The Blue Jackets have had a terrible time with injuries throughout their history. Some numbers that stand out (Since Collins joined the club) include 322 man-games lost in 2024-25, 545 in 2022-23, 324 in 2021-22, and 324 in 2014-15. All of those are big numbers, but the one that stands out is the 545 man-games lost in 2022-2023. That was the third most man-games lost by any team in a single season.
Yes, bad luck plays a part in the injuries. However, when it happens consistently, one has to question if the reason for all of the injuries is bad luck or something deeper. Could it be that the players were not in ideal shape to play a full 82 game season? It’s possible. Could it be that the players were not strong enough to physically endure the strain of NHL hockey? Also a possibility. Either way, it appears that the conditioning may not have been up-to-par.
Their record in back to back games this year wasn't good enough...
Back-to-back games are difficult on any player. They play a game one night, fly through the night to another city, and then must play another game in less than 24 hours. It can be exhausting, and it requires the highest fitness levels to maintain competitiveness. Well, the Blue Jackets unfortunately were not very competitive on the second game of their back-to-back’s this past season.
The Blue Jackets record on the second game of back-to-backs in 2024-25 was 2-9. Simply put, that is not good enough. At the end of season media availability, Zach Werenski made an interesting comment about that poor record. His comment was that it could easily be fixed with proper conditioning.
For a veteran and team leader to make that comment, it raises some eyebrows. Obviously Werenski didn’t feel as though the team was in the best shape to handle the back-to-back games. So, if Werenski didn’t feel that way, it would lead to think that other leaders may have felt the same way. This may be one of the primary reasons that Don Waddell decided to go in a different direction with his conditioning coach.
There are signs that point to the team not being in the best of condition to compete in the NHL. I’m not saying that Kevin Collins is a bad conditioning coach or wasn’t doing his job. I’m only inferring that maybe it was time for a new voice in the weight room to help this young team prepare for the grind that is the NHL. Don Waddell may have been thinking the same thing.