Blue Jackets hire Brad Larsen as their next head coach

[summer tooth]

This must be kind of a let down for the players as well. It could be taken as the front office not having much faith in them.

 

[njdevils1982]

Who?

Never heard of him.

c'mon….it's a sticky thread on the mainboard …….this is big news!

 

[majormajor]

This must be kind of a let down for the players as well. It could be taken as the front office not having much faith in them.

I wouldn't assume that. Maybe they think he's going to be a great coach.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Nice to see an old new name, as a former Avs fan this hits home for me.

Don't expect him to do much with the Jackets though. But I pretty much see them heading down to the basement next season.

 

[Rcknrollkillnmachine]

Laine looking for a trade, so.

 

[LeonDraisaitl]

He wouldn't be where he's at today if he wasn't capable in all facets of coaching.

No just no

 

[The Nuge]

There is basically none amongst the fans.

It's fine. Hard to get really excited about it but to claim it's bad at this point is not right.

I literally said I’m not saying it’s bad. Just that it’s a gamble considering some of the names out there that they could have hired instead

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Laine looking for a trade, so.

Laine was at Larsen's introduction press conference today.......you sure about that?

 

[MMC]

HF: "It's ridiculous how the NHL keeps recycling the same coaches over and over again, hockey is clearly an old boy's club"

Also HF: "lol who is this guy I've never heard of him why would they hire him"

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

HF: "It's ridiculous how the NHL keeps recycling the same coaches over and over again, hockey is clearly an old boy's club"

Also HF: "lol who is this guy I've never heard of him why would they hire him"

Almost like the same people who want the league to keep their old recycled coaches are behind the 2nd comment, also, HF isn't some hive mind with an unanimous opinion either

 

[57special]

Evason is up for the Adams in his first quasi full season after being promoted from assistant to head coach.

 

[MoeBartoli]

Gallant, Larsen, Tocchet, Quinn confirmed

Hartley, Jalonen, Valucci unconfirmed

Based of reporting today, Gallant was potentially the #1 choice, but appears to be off to NYR. And Larsen was the next one up.

Source claiming Gallant was #1 choice?

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Evason is up for the Adams in his first quasi full season after being promoted from assistant to head coach.

Evason being a member of original shitty Sharks teams >>> Larsen being a member of original shitty Thrashers teams

Now I’m sad there’s still not the Atlanta Thrashers.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Source claiming Gallant was #1 choice?

Potentially. Keep that word in mind

 

[lawrence]

how exactly is this a bad signing? I don't why people have an issue with this. He has no track record. He was also their assistant when they swept the lighting and beat the Leafs.

A lot of coaches come from being assistants.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Laine looking for a trade, so.

He was literally one of 5 players at the press conference today to support Brad and has remained in Columbus this whole summer. He wants to stay.

 

[DieSendungmitderMaus]

HF: "It's ridiculous how the NHL keeps recycling the same coaches over and over again, hockey is clearly an old boy's club"

Also HF: "lol who is this guy I've never heard of him why would they hire him"

To be fair, a seven year assistant coach being promoted to head coaching duties doesn't exactly scream radical new ideas. But yeah, certainly more interesting that hiring Mike Yeo or whatever.

I wonder what standards he'll be judged by. Assuming Jones goes, it does seem like a tough spot to start your head coaching career. OTOH, expectations should be reasonable and maybe after a few years of Torts (who IIRC many CBJ fans had grown tired of), playing a bit more of an open game with respectable may be good enough for now. Maybe he even gets Laine going, though it doesn't seem to be a coach thing with him.

 

[Jacob]

Looks like a good hire to me. Resume-wise he seems plenty qualified. I guess one issue is he’s not exactly a new voice for the locker room, but he is already familiar with the players so that’s a plus. Pretty much his entire career he played under Bob Hartley so I figure some of his style rubbed off on him, for better or worse.

Sullivan was Torts’s long time assistant and became a good head coach.

HF: "It's ridiculous how the NHL keeps recycling the same coaches over and over again, hockey is clearly an old boy's club"

Also HF: "lol who is this guy I've never heard of him why would they hire him"

Yeah this site is dumb as hell.

 

[CBJx614]

how exactly is this a bad signing? I don't why people have an issue with this. He has no track record. He was also their assistant when they swept the lighting and beat the Leafs.

A lot of coaches come from being assistants.

He was also there when Todd Richards and Ken Hitchcock were there.

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

how exactly is this a bad signing? I don't why people have an issue with this. He has no track record. He was also their assistant when they swept the lighting and beat the Leafs.

A lot of coaches come from being assistants.

It's not a bad signing in that Larsen would be a 'bad' head coach, it's a bad signing for him to be the head coach in Columbus after being assistant coach their for 7 years. Look back to Detroit when Scotty Bowman retired and they promoted assistant coach Dave Lewis.....effectively the team is trying to benchmark a great experienced coach with his protégé but historically it almost never improves the team - typically the opposite. (Joel Q / Mike Kitchen is another good example).

It likely would have been better to hire from outside the Org and then have Larsen take a HC position elsewhere. As it stands the most likely 'best-case-scenario' is for Larsen to continue what Torts had accomplished, which was basically being a bubble team. With all the talent that has left, and may be leaving soon, the decision to basically 'make due' with what was left after Torts was not resigned means that Jarmo is likely going to spend the next 3 years rebuilding and using that time to evaluate if Larsen is a viable HC. Again, I'm not bagging on Larsen, just saying that since he's been in that locker room for 7 years already, its highly doubtful that the team is going to improve under him in any way (granted, it doesn't matter who their coach is, I think they underperformed this year and will put up slightly better numbers next season regardless). Larsen earned a head coaching position, it just shouldn't be with Columbus at this time.

 

[majormajor]

It's not a bad signing in that Larsen would be a 'bad' head coach, it's a bad signing for him to be the head coach in Columbus after being assistant coach their for 7 years. Look back to Detroit when Scotty Bowman retired and they promoted assistant coach Dave Lewis.....effectively the team is trying to benchmark a great experienced coach with his protégé but historically it almost never improves the team - typically the opposite. (Joel Q / Mike Kitchen is another good example).

I've never thought of Larsen as Torts' protégé. Torts' protégé was Mike Sullivan, who went with him from job to job.

I'm hoping that Larsen is more like Dean Evason, who is obviously coming off a great season.

To be fair, a seven year assistant coach being promoted to head coaching duties doesn't exactly scream radical new ideas.

Let's say you have a brilliant assistant coach and they have radical ideas. What does that look like? Give me an example. I'm sure some assistant coach somewhere has very good ideas. Let's come up with some names.

The reason I can't think of any is because assistant coaches don't get to do big ideas. Their minor ideas might get play around the edges, but for the most part they're helping to implement the head coach's plans. We don't even know what ideas they have until they get the top job.

 

[ijuka]

This was the most boring choice imaginable.

 

[Elvs]

Who?

Never heard of him.

A Stanley Cup winner with the Avs and a two time WHJC gold medal winner Team Canada. He seemed to be a fan favourite with the Thrashers when I first started paying attention to the league.

 

[Aurinko]

Like every Finn has said multiple times, would have been glorious chance to try Jukka Jalonen.

I'm sure Kekäläinen knows both well and just went with the safer choice.

 

[joestevens29]

Seems like a guy that paid his dues. Also sounds like there was a process so I don't know that I see anything wrong with this hiring.