Larsen fired as Blue Jackets coach, no replacement named

Brad Larsen was fired as coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

The Blue Jackets went 25-48-9 this season, last in the Eastern Conference and 31st in the NHL, ahead of only the Anaheim Ducks.
Manny Legace, who had been the Blue Jackets' goaltending coach the past five seasons, was also fired.
No replacements were named.
"This season has been extremely disappointing and the responsibility for that lies with all of us," Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. "These decisions were difficult and not made lightly given our respect for both Brad and Manny as coaches and people. Brad has been part of our organization for more than a decade, and we are extremely thankful for his hard work and many contributions, both on and off the ice, during that time. We wish nothing but the best for Brad and his family in the future."
Larsen, 45, was 62-86-16 in his two season as Blue Jackets coach after replacing John Tortorella on June 10, 2021. He had been an assistant to Tortorella the previous seven seasons in Columbus.
In Larsen's first season as coach last season, the Blue Jackets went 37-38-7, finishing sixth in the Metropolitan Division.
Before coming to Columbus, Larsen was coach of its American Hockey League affiliate in Springfield from 2012-14.
"I don't want to get into any of the timeline of our decisions," Kekalainen said. "We informed them this morning. … There were a lot of things that factored in, made us come to this conclusion, and it was absolutely necessary to make these moves."
Kekalainen said the Blue Jackets would not rush hiring a new coach.
"The sooner the better, obviously, but I think we're going to do a thorough search," he said. "I think that's going to take a little bit of time to see what happens around the League as we've seen some things have already happened and would maybe broaden our search or candidates."
Prior to this season, the Blue Jackets signed forward Johnny Gaudreau to a seven-year contract on July 13 and restricted free agent forward Patrik Laine to a four-year contract four days later. Despite that, they missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third straight season following four consecutive appearances.
"I just woke up and checked my phone and I was kind of kind of surprised," Laine said. "But at the same time, I mean, you know he's struggled the last couple of years and I'm sure sometimes you just need to change. They did it and we'll see what happens next. I think it's a good time to get kind of reset a little bit."
Gaudreau led the team with 74 points (21 goals, 53 assists) and Laine was second with 52 points (22 goals, 30 assists), but Columbus had more than 550 man games lost to injury this season, including defenseman Zach Werenski, who was limited to 13 games.
The Blue Jackets were 30th in the NHL in goals per game (2.60) and 31st in goals against (4.01).
"It's obvious what we went through with the injuries and it's an unfortunate situation for all of us and we do our evaluation every day here," Kekalainen said. "We watch every practice. We watch closely what's going on in the locker room and we're communicating with the coaches every day. … We came to the conclusion that this was absolutely a necessary change that we needed to make. And that's why we're here today.
"We knew this was going to take time if we want to do it the right way. So, all those things factored in … and that brought us to this conclusion. ... We need to change. That became clear that we need to change and how we go about our things on a day-to-day basis and how we're moving forward the type of hockey we want to play in the future and what's going to take us to the next level and back into the playoffs and be a competing team for the Stanley Cup."
The Blue Jackets were the third team to make a coaching change in the past two days. On Friday, the Anaheim Ducks fired Dallas Eakins and the Washington Capitals announced Peter Laviolette wouldn't return as coach.
"We've got to make sure young guys know what isn't acceptable," Werenski said. "We know it's not acceptable. We've been on winning teams. We have to get our standard back there and that starts with us and building that culture. I think we have really good pieces in there. The guys, we're not far off. It's just making sure we help them get there and help this team in the right direction."
NHL.com independent correspondent Craig Merz contributed to this report