Jarmo Kekalainen Fired as Blue Jackets GM; John Davidson Will Serve in Interim Role

The Columbus Blue Jackets announced Thursday they fired Jarmo Kekalainen as general manager.

President of hockey operations John Davidson will assume interim GM duties for the time being.

"This is one of the hardest days I have had in my career as Jarmo is a friend, someone I have a great deal of respect for and someone who has done a lot of good things during his time here," Davidson said in a statement. "While the future of our club is bright, our performance has not been good enough and it is time for a fresh perspective as we move forward."

Kekalainen took over as the GM in February 2013. During his tenure, the franchise achieved a level of sustained success that had been elusive since it entered the league in 2000. The Blue Jackets reached the playoffs in 2013-14 and started a four-year playoff streak in 2016-17.

The 57-year-old's experience as a scout was evident. He built a perennial contender on the strength of some excellent trades and identifying undervalued assets.

However, Kekalainen has been unable to repeat the process after many of the key stars responsible for those multiple postseason trips moved on.

The Blue Jackets are on pace to finish with a points percentage below .500 for the fourth straight season, and they're heading toward a last-place finish in the Eastern Conference for a second successive campaign.

Kekalainen's big gambits to accelerate the rebuild haven't worked out.

Johnny Gaudreau's return (28 goals and 81 assists) on the ice hasn't been terrible so far, but his six-year, $68.3 million contract is a tough pill to swallow on a team this bad. Patrik Laine's four-year, $34.8 million pact also hasn't aged well.

Kekalainen's unwillingness to embrace a full-scale rebuild has left the franchise in a much worse state than if he had just torn the roster down to the studs in 2021 or 2022. Because of that, his departure doesn't come as a huge surprise.

His successor will be left to sift through the damage.