Blue Jackets fire Hitchcock

• BCBulldog

  

  Just heard on 97.1, press conference at 5:30.
• rydawg5

  bogus. Scotty is to blame. Sorry team. Great Coach.
• BCBulldog

  

  Yep, I saw this coming. Might be time to kick Howson out and start over...again. It's just too bad Hitch is caught in the crossfire.
  
  Of course, now with the players getting their way, maybe we will see more enthusiastic play from them. If not, look for an off-season fire sale.
• jordo212000

  

  Such a horribly run franchise.
• End of Line

  

  Link from TSN:http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=308802
  
  I saw this coming last year in about December. His system does not work anymore, he doesn't relate well to younger players aka Filatov/Zheredev, Philly fired him and now the CBJ have now fired him.
• osudarby08

  

  yay! just get a new voice in there to stir interest in the younger players.
• End of Line

  

  Ast. Coach Claude Noel will take over the helm as "interim" Head Coach,
• gerb131

  

  Looks like the mediocrity will continue. I say bring back Gallant.
• pkebker

  He needed to go. Good decision by the Blue Jackets. And I disagree about the comment refering to firing Howson. He has done a pretty good job. Hitch had this team way underachieving...
• mallymal614

  Great news!
• End of Line

  

  Bring in Kevin Dineen and looks like Filatov's value you just went way up (sarcasm)
• krazie45

  

  When you go from a playoff team to this bad in one year, someone has to be held accountable.....and getting the pink slip isn't anything new for Hitchcock. Hopefully the Blue Jackets bring in a quality coach that can get Mason's head squared away.
• gerb131

  

  Barry Melrose would look good in C Bus.
• End of Line

  

  Meh about Melrose, I'd like to see Michel Therrien take over the helm.
  
  @ Krazie, the team only made the playoffs because, Mason played out of this world on an average team.
• TedSheckler

  

  The_Crosby_Show wrote: @ Krazie, the team only made the playoffs because, Mason played out of this world on an average team.

  And the downfall started last season. They lost like the last 10 games and limped into the playoffs to only get swept.
  
  I'm glad he's gone. Nothing against Hitch, he's a good guy, but Hitch hockey had run its course in Columbus.
• End of Line

  

  I believe the only way they got in was getting a point against the Blackhawks last year when Nash scored the tying goal. Just like in Philly and Dallas, Hitchcock hockey is over.
• gerb131

  

  Melrose is to LA for C-Bus, they need a Ron Wilson type of guy.
• ohiotiger33

  

  Hitch's style just doesn't work anymore.
• End of Line

  

  gerb131 wrote: Melrose is to LA for C-Bus, they need a Ron Wilson type of guy.

  Brian Burke and Wilson are buddie-buddie.
• NNN

  

  None of the names that I've heard as being on the short list have NHL coaching experience.
  
  I'm not complaining about that.
• darbypitcher22

  

  Melrose?
  
  I could deal with the killer mullet every night...
• sportchampps

  Hitch could win with a team that had a higher payroll and didn't have to pay a premium for players to come to Columbus.
• End of Line

  

  No to Melrose, his tenure in Tampa went horribly bad. While in Tampa Stamkos struggled with Melrose as a coach.
  
  The team could have a higher payroll it's just that management just doesn't want to spend money.
• pkebker

  Theres a lot of coaches who could do better with a higher payroll. The fact is that this team was way underachieving. That falls on the coach. We needed a change. Hopefully we can turn this thing around.
• TedSheckler

  

  So far so good. This game was the breath of fresh air. for once I didn't feel like they would blow it in the third. I actually felt like they were going to win. Noel was good in his post game press conference. I'm willing to give him a shot. This team is playing different hockey now and it showed right off the bat. I'm encouraged.