Blue Jackets Monday Gathering Brad Larsen getting long look Jackets are overdue in the lottery and growing interest in Seth Jones - The Athletic

Blue Jackets Monday Gathering Brad Larsen getting long look Jackets are overdue in the lottery and growing interest in Seth Jones

May 31, 2021 A collection of notes, insights, ruminations, and did-you-knows gathered throughout the week that was for the Blue Jackets:

Item #1 Don t rule out Brad Larsen

The Blue Jackets are “pretty much” done with their first round of interviews in the search for a coach to replace John Tortorella, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said over the weekend. The second round of interviews will likely begin this week. Advertisement Gerard Gallant, Brad Larsen, Todd Nelson, David Quinn and Rick Tocchet , but there may be others, too. Bob Hartley and Jukka Jalonen declined to say if they’ve been contacted by the Blue Jackets. There’s a good mix of age, experience and styles on that list, and it remains to be seen what Kekalainen believes this organization needs — other than adherence to the standard that was set by Tortorella — with the next coach. Kekalainen doesn’t want to be seen as putting his thumb on the scales for any one candidate, but he also had a lot to say this week when asked if there was a way the organization could hire Larsen without a Crew-style revolt by Blue Jackets fans. “If we were to think he’s the best choice to be our coach, I’d be happy to take the bullets,” Kekalainen said. “We should hire the best coach, no matter what the perception might be.” Kekalainen noted, fairly, that Tortorella’s perception — after an awful 2013-14 in Vancouver — wasn’t exactly at its pinnacle when the Blue Jackets hired him seven games into the 2015-16 season. But Tortorella’s arrival was mostly celebrated by the Blue Jackets fan base. Hiring Larsen might require a delicate public relation’s roll-out by the Blue Jackets given the current angst-ridded state of the franchise. First, a little background. Larsen has been with the Blue Jackets organization since he began his coaching career as an AHL assistant in 2010. After two years in that role, he ascended to the top AHL coach for two seasons before he was brought to Columbus to join the staff as an assistant. One of Larsen’s jobs in Columbus has been to coach the power play, which is how he’s become a lightning rod for scorn and vitriol among the fan base. The Jackets’ power play was incredible in the first half of the 2016-17 season. But since then, it’s been excruciatingly, unwatchably awful. It has been so elementary in its approach, so devoid of skill and creativity and unpredictability. Instead of scooting to the edge of their seats with the man advantage, Blue Jackets fans often take the opportunity for a beer run or a bathroom break. Advertisement And so the mere mention of Larsen’s name brings a deluge of anger from Blue Jackets fans on social media. When it became known that Larsen would be getting an interview for the job and assistant coach Brad Shaw would not, Twitter exploded. Which is worse – Larsen getting a head coach interview and shaw not getting one or the crew rebrand? Sigh — bryanbryan (@cbuscbus) Tortorella, who has pushed for Larsen to be his successor in Columbus for some time, has defended Larsen passionately, though he didn’t want to be quoted for this story. Larsen and Shaw ran most of the Blue Jackets’ practices, Tortorella said, and Larsen did extensive work and teaching on the club’s 5-on-5 play through the years. But Kekalainen doesn’t need to be sold on Larsen. “We will give him an equal look because he’s deserving, and we know exactly what we’d be getting,” Kekalainen said. “That’s where I get most excited is he would keep the standard we’ve set and he would maintain the accountability. He’s a confident guy. He’s his own man. He was not a ‘yes man’ to Torts. He wasn’t.” Judging Larsen by the Blue Jackets power play, Kekalanen said, would be like judging a GM only by his trades. “That’s only been a fraction of his responsibilities,” he said. “It doesn’t fall entirely on Brad Larsen’s plate that we haven’t had a good power play. I’ll take responsibility for the power play — getting the right personnel is my job — as much as the coaching staff should, but it shouldn’t be on one guy.” One year after Kekalainen was hired as GM, he promoted Larsen from AHL coach to assistant on Todd Richards’ staff. Larsen was replaced at the AHL level by Jared Bednar, who spent two years in that role before he was hired by Colorado. Now Bednar and the Avs are favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Advertisement Kekalainen believes Larsen is worthy of the same opportunity. “We brought him up from Springfield (in 2014) because we thought he was going to be a very good coach and we wanted him closer to our NHL guys,” Kekalainen said. “We know inside and out what kind of coach Brad Larsen would be and what kind of standard he would set for us. There’s no guessing there. “That’s one big thing, and the perception that we get from our leaders within our team is the most important thing for us.”

Item #2 And the winner is … 

Wednesday could be a big night for the Blue Jackets, but then we’ve been getting hyped for the NHL draft lottery for how long in Columbus with very little reason to smile after the numbers are drawn? The Blue Jackets, after finishing with the fourth-worst record in the NHL this season, have the fifth-best chance to win the lottery because expansion Seattle is being gifted the third-best chance as part of their welcome-to-the-league gift bag. That fifth slot gives the Jackets an 8.5 percent chance to win the lottery and get the No. 1 overall pick at the draft in late July. They have an 8.6 percent chance to pick No. 2, a 20.6 percent chance to pick No. 5, a 45.8 percent chance to pick No. 6 and a 16.5 percent chance to slide back spot to No. 7. The lottery will be held virtually again this year, so Kekalainen and the Blue Jackets’ brass will be watching from Columbus. No rabbit foot in his pocket, he said. No hannunvaakuna, the ancient Finnish symbol to ward off bad luck, either. “I’m not a superstitious guy,” Kekalainen said. “But it would be a nice time to have a little luck in the lottery and get to choose whoever we think is the best player.” Owen Power, a 6-foot-5 defenseman from Mississauga, Ont., is widely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick after a strong freshman season at the University of Michigan. He’s currently playing for Team Canada at the World Championships in Riga, Latvia. But who are we kidding? The Blue Jackets have been part of the draft lottery 14 times during their illustrious two decades on the ice, with a chance to win the No. 1 overall pick in 10 of those years. They’ve never won the top pick, however, and only once in those 14 lotteries have they moved up in the pecking order. That was in 2016 when the Blue Jackets moved up from fourth in the lottery to third on the draft board and selected Pierre-Luc Dubois. All of this futility and all of these numbers got us thinking … just what are the chances that the Blue Jackets would have so many opportunities to win the lottery — they had a 48.2 percent chance in 2012 and lost! — without having their numbers called. Now, we didn’t want to do too much thinking (or math) so we made a plea for help on Twitter and found three advanced-level statisticians to do the work for us:• Tayler Blake has a doctorate in statistics from Ohio State
• Jonathan Thomas is a grad student at Arizona State.
• Patrick Mercer has a bachelor’s degree in statistics from Wright State. All three were asked to figure the odds that the Blue Jackets, given their percentage chance in each of the 14 lotteries, hadn’t yet won a single lottery. They all came back with similar numbers. “The probability that the Blue Jackets haven’t won the lottery during any of those years is 17.59 percent,” Blake said. Put another way: there’s been an 82.41 percent likelihood the Blue Jackets would have won at least one of the lotteries through the years. “The percentages more or less tell the story on their own,” Mercer said. “Eighty-two times out of 100, Columbus would have won a lottery and 77 out of 100 times they would’ve won a first overall pick.” It has to happen at some point, right?

Item #3 Shelley s big stage

If you watched Monday’s three-overtime thriller between Edmonton and Winnipeg, the color commentator’s voice may have sounded familiar. Jody Shelley, who has worked Blue Jackets broadcasts with Jeff Rimer for the last several seasons, made his network debut, working alongside play-by-play voice John Walton on NBC Sports. In one sense, it had been in the works for more than a year. In another sense, it came together quickly, Shelley said. “I planned on getting in there last March when all the (COVID) hit the fan, and everything got stopped,” Shelley said. “But through Joe Whelan (Bally’s Sports producer) I’ve been reaching out a couple times a year, just reminding them. “They were short a guy and (former goaltender and current NBC analyst) Brian Boucher happened to be in the room, so Bouch mentioned my name to them. Next thing I know, I had it on the schedule.” It was the perfect debut in so many ways. For one, Shelley — a proud Canadian — has spent part of his life in both Edmonton and Thompson, Manitoba, about a seven-hour drive north of Winnipeg. His folks, Ned and Doreen, live in Edmonton and were able to watch the American network feed. “They were so excited, and so were my wife (Mandy) and kids,” Shelley said. “And that’s nice because I was away from home for 10 days (as part of the NHL Network’s studio coverage in Secaucus, N.J.). “There were some pretty cool texts, too. It’s amazing. You don’t realize until you do NHL Network or NBC what kind of reach those networks have.” Shelley’s game wasn’t the late game, but it was the last game being played. It went to three overtimes before Kyle Connor scored the winner, clinching the series sweep for the Jets. Now that the first round is essentially finished, there are fewer games and, thus, less need for announcers. So it’ll be next year at the soonest before Shelley gets to work before another national audience. He’d like to work in a scenario like so many broadcasters have, where they keep their gig with the local team and work select national games for the network. Walton, for instance, is the play-by-play voice of the Washington Capitals when he’s not doing network games. “It’s a great line to have on my resume, that experience,” Shelley said. “But there’s a new (national) network coming in next season (ESPN/Turner) so who knows where it might go from here?”

Snacks

Spent part of Sunday asking around the NHL about the anticipated level of interest in Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones, who has reportedly informed the club that he has and is . Most clubs will let the dust settle for a day or so after big news breaks, but two clubs reached out to Kekalainen on Sunday. A flood of calls is expected beginning Monday or Tuesday after the holiday weekend. If you’re the betting sort — and isn’t everybody these days? — the early favorite appears to the Los Angeles Kings, given their stable of prospects and their pile of draft picks. Chicago and Montreal are expected to be major players, too. Carolina goaltender is a rare breed in the NHL — an Ohio-born goaltender. Only three Ohio-born goalies have ever played in the NHL, beginning with Toledo’s Pat Jablonski, who had a journeyman’s career as a back-up with St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Phoenix and Carolina in the 1990s, and Sabres goalie Michael Houser who made his NHL debut this past year. Nedeljkovic, who is from Parma, Ohio, and played for AAA Cleveland Barons, is the only Ohio-born goalie to win a playoff game after guiding the Hurricanes to a first-round win over Nashville. He’ll likely make the NHL All-Rookie team and is expected to get several votes for the Calder Trophy. Florida has goaltender under contract for five more seasons at a $10 million salary cap hit. He’ll make $12 million in each of the next two seasons, which would be a lot of money under the best of circumstances. But what are the Panthers going to do, considering Bobrovsky has been badly outplayed by Chris Driedger the last two seasons and more recently by 20-year-old . Bobrovsky, who didn’t dress for the final two games of the Panthers’ first-round loss to Tampa Bay, has a full no-move clause in his contract. He had another awful postseason in 2021: 5.31 goals-against average and an .841 save percentage in three games. It’s funny. Bobrovsky is often included in the list of great players the Blue Jackets have let get away in recent seasons, but this is one of the great organizational decision in recent years. Bobrovsky will be 33 when next season starts, and his playoff struggles are only looming larger. Over the last 25 NHL seasons, only one goaltender who has appeared 20 or more postseason games has worse numbers Bobrovsky (.899, 3.24). It’s Dan Cloutier (.872, 3.31), who struggled mightily with Vancouver in the early 2000s. Told the Blue Jackets and forward Grégory Hofmann are getting close on contract terms, and that the process will likely cross the finish line after Hofmann and Switzerland finish the IIHF World Championships in Riga, Latvia. The Jackets acquired Hofmann for a seventh-round pick from Carolina in February. It’s expected to be a one-way deal. Speaking of Hofmann, he’s tied for the scoring lead at the World Championships with five goals in six games for Switzerland. He’s also fourth in the tournament in points with 5-2-7. How wild are the worlds this season? Hofmann is tied for the goal-scoring lead with a player from Great Britain: forward Liam Kirk, who was a seventh-round pick (No. 189 overall) by Arizona in 2018 and spent two seasons playing junior for Peterborough of the Ontario Hockey League. Remember Blue Jackets forward prospect Vitaly Abramov? The Jackets traded Abramov, along with prospect Jonathan Davidsson and a first-round pick to Ottawa at the 2019 trade deadline for center Matt Duchene, who played a key role in the sweep of Tampa Bay. Abramov has had trouble cracking the Senators’ lineup — he’s played only five games in three seasons — which is not a great sign for the 23-year-old, considering Ottawa is well into a rebuilding process. And now there’s this: Abramov just signed a two-year deal to play in the KHL with Traktor Chelyabinsk. (Top photo of Seth Jones: Jamie Sabau / NHLI via Getty Images)

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