Columbus Blue Jackets' Pascal Vincent deserves chance to further building process
Mike Babcock’s tenure as Blue Jackets coach lasted 78 days, which was 2.56 months too long. An NHL Players’ Association investigation found that Babcock had violated players’ privacy during offseason meetings. He “resigned” two days before training camp.
It was one of the darkest days in franchise history, right up there with the day he was hired, and the 76 days in-between.
There were those – and you can count me among them – who saw potential for an ironic twist to the Babcock fiasco. To wit: His replacement, Pascal Vincent, might turn out to be exactly the right man for the job. Seven months later, after Vincent guided the Blue Jackets to a 27-43-12 record and a last-place finish in the Eastern Conference, I still feel that way. This is the right man for the job.
The search for a new Blue Jackets coach
Longtime Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen was fired because, as president of hockey operations John Davidson put it, “it became apparent a new voice was needed to lead us forward.” Davidson’s search for a new GM is now entering a third month, but then, this search was going to take time. If you’re looking for candidates who are currently working for successful teams, well, they’re in the playoffs right now, which is to say they’re not available. Not quite yet.
This is an attractive job. I’ll continue a theme and say the hope here is that JD finds someone young, bright, talented and dynamic – someone like Mathieu Darche, 47, a former Jackets forward who, under Steve Yzerman and Julien BriseBois, has built a solid resume as assistant GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The hope here is the Jackets demur from hiring a 60-something dude who has found his greatest success in a Canadian junior league.
Related Arace Blue Jackets article : Columbus Blue Jackets need new voices, better culture: Arace
Why the Blue Jackets should consider Pascal Vincent
The greatest hope here is that the next GM, no matter who they may be, finds cause to allow Vincent to serve out the second and final year of his contract, with a chance to earn an extension. He deserves that much. He assumed his job two days before training camp and was tasked with taking a team with statistically horrible defense and terrible goaltending in 2022-23 and mold this, the youngest team in the league, into a playoff contender. As it turned out, he was to do this while sustaining more than 300 man-games lost to injury and without one of his top offensive players, Patrik Laine, who played just 18 games due to injuries and his voluntary submission to the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program.
Vincent has a some Wilfried Nancy in him, which is to say the process comes first and results come second – because the right process leads to sustainable results. In his first season behind the Jackets' bench, he had to have the intelligence, honesty, motivational power and technical acumen to convince his young charges that they could take their first steps on a long journey. He did that.
On Wednesday, the day for exit interviews, the players had the fine-motor task of talking about the future of their team at a time when they don’t know who the next GM will be – or if Vincent will be around come the next training camp. Endorsements were unadvisable and they stayed in their lanes. Yet they said enough to make one believe that they respect the work Vincent did to clarify and enforce what is necessary for long-term success.
More on Pascal Vincent: Columbus Blue Jackets 2023-24 review: 3 reasons to keep coach Pascal Vincent
For his part, Vincent hit every note with a purity of conviction.
“It’s all about culture,” Vincent said. “When you wear the Blue Jackets jersey, this is what is expected. And the culture, to me, is everything. Why? Culture is a set of behaviors. How do we present ourselves to the rink? How do we manage games? How do we manage leads? How do we manage trailing (by) a goal or two? How do we show up on days when we don’t really feel like it, because we’re tired after a tough road trip or a tough (stretch of) schedule?
“Having that kind of culture where we’re going to work and we’re going to enjoy working. And we’re going to be the hardest-working team in the NHL. Playing for each other. Supporting one another. If we have one guy not going, we know we have a system that can support that one guy not playing. Everything’s about culture.”
Vincent said his first offseason task is to supply the next GM with as much objective information as he can, to help the next GM make the decisions that lead to sustainable success. In this context, Vincent said his job security is “irrelevant.” At the same time, he has a deep desire to hang on to his job because he loves the city, wants to repay the fans’ staunch support and, after beginning a process he believes in, after establishing relationships he wants to build upon with the players, he believes he’s the right guy for the job. He just didn’t say it, not in so many words.
“X’s and O’s matter, but not that much,” Vincent said. “It matters in a sense that once you have a full team buying into what you want to do and they’re all on the same page, that system will become a good system. And then building a system on the players, the skill set that you have in the room, collectively – that becomes a great system. This summer, I’ll study some systems, but it’s going to be way bigger and deeper than that.”
Vincent is the third Jackets’ coach in a year. They don’t need a fourth. Not yet, anyway. Maybe, not for a while.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Arace: The next Columbus Blue Jackets GM should retain Pascal Vincent
