This is a big one. The Columbus Blue Jackets have fired head coach Todd Richards after a dismal 0-7 start and replaced him with, wait for it, John Tortorella.
Todd Richards out in CBJ. Torts in.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) October 21, 2015
The Blue Jackets basically just gave up on their season and fired a pretty good head coach in Todd Richards and replaced him with the man who’s either going to lead them to a Stanley Cup or drag the team to the ground and watch it implode further. Richards was in a tough spot following his team’s brutal start, but it wasn’t his fault. The team was generating plenty of shot attempts, but their goaltending has been atrocious, which has led to giving up bad goals at bad times. Tortorella comes into a pretty good situation as the Blue Jackets can’t possibly post worse results than they have, so he’ll look good by default.
Tortorella’s last coaching job was a dumpster fire. He lasted just one season with the Vancouver Canucks, missing the playoffs while making bad decision after bad decision, including trying to fight the entire Calgary Flames roster during a game. The Blue Jackets are hoping Tortorella can bring his tough attitude to the club, and infuse some fire into a roster which is pretty talented, but drastically underperforming.
The kicker in all of this is Columbus will send a third-round pick to the Canucks for compensation for the hire.
Wait! I'm told the #canucks actually get a second-round pick from Columbus because John Tortorella's hiring comes in-season.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 21, 2015
The Blue Jackets better hope this works out because it has the chance to get very messy right away. Either way, media scrums have just got infinitely more entertaining in Columbus.
