The Columbus Blue Jackets are looking to turn what’s been a dreadful start to the season around and have fired coach Todd Richards and quickly filled the vacancy by hiring John Tortorella.
TSN reported that one night after Columbus was shut out by the New York Islanders the team decided it needed to make the change.
"After much deliberation and discussion, we have made the very difficult decision late last night to remove Todd Richards as our head coach, and we’ve reached an agreement with John Tortorella to join the Columbus Blue Jackets in that capacity,” said general manager Jarmo Kekalainen. “None of us saw our season unfolding the way it has, and every one of us from management to coaches to players bears responsibility. There is still a lot of hockey to be played and we believe this change was necessary to give our team the best chance to accomplish the goals we’ve set for this season.”
The Jackets horrendous start this year currently has the team at 0-7-0. The organization is hoping that things will get better now with Tortorella. As the Associated Press noted, he hasn’t coached a game since May 2014 but did win a Stanley Cup while coaching the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004.