Jackets fill out AHL affiliate’s staff
— The Blue Jackets COLUMBUS officially tied up the last two loose ends within their hockey-operations department, both involving the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League.
Chris Clark, promoted last week to Blue Jackets director of player personnel, was named the Monsters’ new general manager — taking over for Bill Zito — while Mike Eaves was hired as Cleveland’s next head coach.
“I feel fortunate and grateful to take over as general manager of the team,” Clark said during a news conference that included Eaves, a longtime coach with extensive professional and collegiate experience.
“I’m also fortunate for all the hard work that Bill Zito has done in the past,” Clark said. “I think he set the bar pretty high, winning a championship in his first year (2016). I’m not going to guarantee that, but we’re going to have a very good team.”
Clark joined the Blue Jackets in 2012 as a development coach and worked his way up to director of player development before his promotion last week. He worked closely with Zito, whose own promotion to Blue Jackets senior vice president of hockey operations/associate GM and alternate governor opened the GM spot in Cleveland.
“He’s done a lot of hard work in the last couple years,” Clark said of Zito, who joined the Blue Jackets in 2013 as assistant GM in Columbus and GM of the Monsters, constructing a roster that won the Cleveland franchise’s first AHL championship in 2015-16.
“He’s built this team, the players and staff, and I’m fortunate to take over for a team that did very good last year. We’ve got some work to do in the summer, but I think it’s going to be a very good team.”
This season, the Monsters qualified for the AHL’s Calder Cup playoffs in their final regular-season game and then pulled off an impressive upset win against the Syracuse Crunch in the first round — mirroring what the Blue Jackets did to the Crunch’s parent organization, the Tampa Bay Lightning, in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A former NHL player, Eaves has coached professionally and collegiately, including stints with the AHL’s Hershey Bears, the University of Wisconsin and, most recently, St. Olaf, a Division III program in Minnesota.
Eaves’ brother, Murray, also played in the NHL along with his son, Patrick, who is currently a forward with the Anaheim Ducks. Another son, Ben, played at Boston College after being drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins and then professionally before retiring in 2009. He recently was hired to take over coaching duties for the AAA Blue Jackets program.
Mike Eaves, 63, coached Wisconsin for 14 seasons and won an NCAA title in 2006. He also coached the U.S. in 2004 to its first gold medal in the world junior championship.
Four home games on preseason schedule
The Blue Jackets released their preseason schedule for 2019-20 Tuesday and those hoping for a reduction in games got their wish.
The Jackets will play seven preseason games, four at home, rather than the eight they’ve played the past six years. They’re also not leaving North America, likely thanks to the NHL’s decision to scrap its preseason games in China for next year.
The Blue Jackets were rumored to be one of the teams ticketed for China, but the NHL canceled the venture for a year — citing scheduling difficulties coinciding with celebrations of the country’s 70th anniversary in the fall.
The Blue Jackets will stay much closer for training camp and their preseason games — including the opener against the Buffalo Sabres on Sept. 17 at Nationwide Arena.
Buffalo is one of three teams Columbus will play home-and-road sets against, with the other two being the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues.
The Blue Jackets will also host the New Jersey Devils on Sept. 27, which could mean a visit from whichever player the Devils select with the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, which takes place Friday and Saturday in Vancouver.