Scott Arniel Firing by Columbus Blue Jackets an Inevitable Move
A move that seemed to be inevitable was finally made Monday morning when Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson announced that the team had relieved head coach Scott Arniel of his duties, according to ESPN.
After the team’s most aggressive offseason to date with the trade for Jeff Carter and signing of James Wisniewski, the Blue Jackets were supposed to finally be a playoff contender.
However, the team got off to a rough start after Wisniewski was suspended for the first eight games and Carter was out of the lineup early due to a fracture in his foot.
Columbus has spent almost the entire season at the bottom of the NHL standings and did not achieve their first regular season win until the ninth game of the season.
Nothing has seemed to go right for the Jackets this year, and it was assumed that Arniel would take the fall for it.
It comes as a shock that the firing of Arniel did not come earlier in the season, possibly after the 9-2 beatdown against the Philadelphia Flyers or the several games where the team has squandered a lead away in the final minutes of the third period.
However, Arniel remained the head coach and hoped to turn things around before he was shown the door.
Last night against the Anaheim Ducks, the Jackets struggled and found themselves facing a 4-1 deficit after the first period. The final score of 7-4 was the final straw that broke the camels back for Arniel.
Time has run out as Arniel’s time as a NHL head coach after he compiled a 45-60-18 record in one-and-a-half seasons as the Jackets’ head coach.
Assistant coach Todd Richards will serve as the team’s interim head coach and could very well finish out the season with the team.
Before being signed by the Blue Jackets in the offseason, Richards was the head coach for the Minnesota Wild from 2009 to 2011, where he compiled a 77-71-16 record before being fired in 2011.
Richards served as assistant coach for the San Jose Sharks prior to coaching the Wild and helped the Sharks to an NHL-best 53-18-11 record in 2008-2009.
Now that the head coaching question has been answered, the next area of interest is who the team might trade before the February deadline.