When the Blue Jackets announced Brad Larsen as the team's eighth full-time head coach last summer, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen made it clear the franchise had done its due diligence.
Columbus interviewed Larsen multiple times to make sure someone who had served as an assistant coach for the past seven seasons would be his own man in charge. The Blue Jackets also talked to their fair share of candidates from outside of the organization, yet no one topped what Kekalainen dubbed the "Lars bar," the standard set by the former NHL player during his interviews.
Larsen impresses in first year as Blue Jackets head coach
In leader's first year, Columbus exceeded external expectations, grew together as a team
Yet the collective response from CBJ fans was skepticism. For a team that was looking to refresh things after six seasons under John Tortorella, how much sense did it make to turn over the keys to one of his assistant coaches? And don't get people started on the power play he oversaw...
With one season under Larsen in the books, though, it's fair to say Kekalainen made a pretty good choice. If measuring coaches comes down to comparing how they did against preseason expectations, Larsen passed with flying colors, piloting a team that was largely expected to finish last in the Metropolitan Division to 37 wins and a February push that got the team back into playoff discussion.
More than that, though, the Blue Jackets left the season feeling good about the progress made over 82 games, from the development of the young players that will hopefully vault the team back into contention to the creation of a family atmosphere in the locker room to the resilience Columbus showed on and off the ice throughout the season.
"I think Lars has done an excellent job," Kekalainen said Monday. "We never had any doubts about his work ethic and the passion for the game, and those were big reasons why we hired him. There's no doubt that that was going to be just like we projected. But it's a different job obviously having all the responsibility and pressure, if you want to call it, on your shoulders.
"I think he's handled it very well. He's been in the business for a long time. I said it last year that ever since I've gotten to know him, I've always felt like he's a head coach in the National Hockey League. I think he proved in the first year that he's gonna be a good one."
For his part, Larsen knew what he didn't know coming into the job. While he had been a head coach at the minor league level, leading the Jackets' top farm team in Springfield of the AHL in 2013 and '14, he had served as an assistant with Columbus since then.
So while he hadn't led an NHL team to that point, he did have a Rolodex of longtime coaches he could lean into, from his predecessor in Tortorella to longtime NHL coaches Mike Babcock, Ken Hitchcock and Todd McClellan, all of whom he counts as mentors thanks to stops along the way.
It also helped to have a strong staff on hand, including in part, associate coach Pascal Vincent -- hired from Winnipeg to be his second in command -- as well as assistants Steve McCarthy and Kenny McCudden, goalie coach Manny Legace, and longtime NHL coach Craig Hartsburg, who also was around the team at times during the season.
Add it all up and between knowledge and relationships, the Blue Jackets had a staff that checked off a lot of boxes.
"It was awesome. I loved it," Larsen said of the experience of leading the way. "I was so blessed to be able to coach and be part of a staff that got to coach a group like that, that really, truly cared for each other. … It was an incredible year. It was. Take out the wins and losses. We all want to do better. We all want to be playing today … but we're not. And that's where we want to grow to. That's what we need to get to.
"But I'm excited about the future. I am. We have some really good players in there, but we have some tremendous people, which I'm excited about."
Coaching in the NHL requires a deft touch, and it's a different job than a sport like football, where strategy and schemes can vary wildly from one squad to another. In hockey, the job is less about X's and O's and more about jelling a team into a unit that plays together while also working with individual players to push them to be the best they can be.
It's hard to see the internal dynamics of a team, but from the outside, it would appear Larsen and his staff accomplished many of those goals. Not only did Columbus exceed outside expectations, it was clear the team fought and stayed together to the end, and many of the players spoke of an excellent locker room culture when the season ended. The Blue Jackets also set franchise records for comeback wins (23) and wins when trailing after two periods (nine), signs of a squad that never gave up and showed resiliency.
Add in the fact that most of the young core CBJ players developed and others had career years -- six Jackets set career highs in points, and the team notched a franchise record in goals -- and it appeared there was progress on an individual level as well.
"I was not surprised; you could always see it in Lars," captain Boone Jenner said. "He just excelled in that role, him and the rest of the coaching staff, all being in their first years as well. It kind of goes back to the idea that guys bought in right away. Guys were excited. Guys wanted to play for each other. We're all in it together -- coaches, management, I think that's important. He did a great job for us."
"I really liked how he handled the whole team," Patrik Laine added. "As a team, we couldn't get the job done, but I felt like he handled every player, not the same way but kind of differently, but yeah I was really happy playing for Lars and hopefully play for him in the future too."
Larsen is equal parts demanding of his players but also supportive, seeking to build relationships and earn trust to help push players to be all they can be. Practices were conducted at a high tempo and attention to detail was demanded, but there also was time for lighthearted banter, and his dog, Lady, was often ready to greet players when they headed back to the locker room.
There's still plenty of room to grow, but one year in, Larsen showed the ability to lead a team through the peaks and valleys of an NHL season. And he's excited to take what he's learned and do it again next season.
"I said it when I took this job -- there's no substitute for experience," he said. "There's just not. I just finished my 25th year of pro hockey. I'm 44 years old, turning 45 here in June. I'm still a very young man. It's another year of experience for me. We went through things. Some things I expected. Some things I didn't. But I'm gonna sure try and grow from it."
