And at the end of the campaign, perhaps the biggest change to ever hit the organization came when the team relieved Doug MacLean of his duties, letting go the man who had been in charge of building the team from its inception.
In between, the Blue Jackets finished 33-42-7, good for 73 points and a fourth-place finish in the Central Division. It was a drop of a single point from the year prior but felt like a disappointment
after the 2005-06 team
finished strong and seemed to have built some momentum toward making the team's first-ever playoff appearance.
But that was largely off the table early on thanks to another slow start, which led to Gallant's dismissal Nov. 13 with the Blue Jackets holding a 5-9-1 record. After assistant coach Gary Agnew led the team for five games, Hitchcock was hired and brought with him a level of respect earned through a decorated résumé that included a Stanley Cup ring earned in 1998 with Dallas.
He was able to skipper the team to close to a .500 record the rest of the way, going 28-29-5 the rest of the season. The biggest culprit behind the team's inability to threaten for a playoff berth was the offense, as Columbus placed 28th in the league in scoring.
Longtime CBJ standout David Vyborny led the way again, posting 16 goals and 48 assists for a team-best 64 goals. Rick Nash's fourth full season in Columbus was a solid one as he chipped in 27 goals and 57 assists on the way to a second straight All-Star bid, while summer acquisition Fredrik Modin had 22 goals and 42 points to match Sergei Fedorov (18-24-42) in scoring.
But those were the only Jackets to top 40 points, a list that included Nikolai Zherdev, who went from 54 points the year before to a 10-22-32 line. Free agent signee Anson Carter, an NHL veteran, had 27 points in 54 games before being sent to Carolina at the trade deadline.
Defensively, the team placed 17th in the league, in large part because of the standout play of Finnish goaltender Fredrik Norrena. Acquired along with Modin from Tampa Bay in the offseason for goaltender Marc Denis, Norrena had an excellent season, going 24-23-3 with a 2.79 goals-against average and .904 save percentage in 55 games. He was one of five players to suit up in net for Columbus, joining Pascal Leclaire (24 games), Ty Conklin (11), Brian Boucher (3) and Tomas Popperle (2).
Highlights from the campaign included a five-game win streak in December as well as four-game streaks in January and March. From Dec. 2-9, Norrena's 155:28 scoreless streak set a franchise record as he posted back-to-back shutouts at Edmonton (21 saves) and Colorado (42 saves).
And on Jan. 5, one of the biggest comebacks in franchise history took place as the Jackets overcame a 3-0 deficit in the third period to win 4-3 at Anaheim. Columbus scored three times in a span of 1:54 capped by Manny Malhotra's winner with 1:20 left, then Norrena stopped Teemu Selanne's penalty shot with 21 seconds to play to preserve the victory.
