If you thought yesterday’s 9-2 loss to the Flyers was going to bring instant change to the Blue Jackets, think again. The Columbus Dispatch reports that coach Scott Arniel was on the ice this morning with his team for a practice at Nationwide Arena.
And what about general manager Scott Howson? Still employed too. He was in the stands watching practice with team president Mike Priest.
We wrote Friday that this could be the week jobs are lost as the Jackets have four days off before their next game on Thursday. Last night in Philly, a housecleaning was bordering on “foregone conclusion” territory.
Just because no changes have been made yet doesn’t mean none are forthcoming.
Columbus is now 2-11-1, 10 points back of eighth-place Los Angeles. I’m no bookie, but I’d say their chances of making the playoffs are around 50 to 1. The New Jersey Devils got off to a dreadful start last year (10-29-2 after 41 games) and made an admirable second-half run, but ultimately the Devils fell 12 points shy of eighth place. So really, they weren’t even close.
To be fair, the Jackets are only 14 games into the season; however, to match last season’s eighth-place record in the Western Conference, they’d have to go 42-18-7.
Not happening.
At this point, you have to wonder if the Jackets will start shedding salary to mitigate the financial losses that continued poor attendance will surely cause.
What would you do if you were the owner?
