Blue Jackets make Jarmo Kekalainen NHL’S first European GM
The Columbus Blue Jackets hurried to make history. Just more than 24 hours after firing Scott Howson, they announced the hiring of Jarmo Kekalainen of Finland as the first European to be a general manager in the National Hockey League.
Kekalainen, director of amateur scouting with the St. Louis Blues 2002-10, held a news conference Wednesday in his native Finland at the same time the Blue Jackets Blue Jackets held theirs in Ohio.
“One of my dreams since I hung up my skates has been to be a GM of an NHL team sometime. Now that dream has come true,” Kekalainen said in Helsinki at the home arena of the Jokerit club, where he’s been GM since 2010. “I’m really happy and pleased, even proud, that I’ve been give this chance.”
The 46-year-old, who played sparingly in the NHL, worked closely with Columbus director of hockey operations John Davidson with the Blues. When the Blues hired Doug Armstrong as general manager in 2010 instead of Kekalainen, Kekalainen returned to Finland to take over as GM of Jokerit in Finland’s top league.
The Blue Jackets are 4-7-2 in this lockout-shortened season and begin a six-game Western swing Friday night in Los Angeles.
The club does have three first-round picks in this summer’s amateur draft.
“We feel here that we know how important the draft is, especially with a deep draft and this one is a deep draft,” Davidson said. “He’ll become a major voice regarding the upcoming draft. That certainly played into it. That’s a part of it, but it’s certainly not all of it.”