Interesting choices ahead for Jackets
The NHL season drew to a close on Wednesday when the St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. The Blues’ quest for the grail, which touched on seven decades, came to an end.
Their quest began 52 years ago, not long after “Star Trek” debuted on television,
the Blue Jackets on Thursday as a special assistant to general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, a role earned through shadowing Kekalainen the past three months. “I was here for nine years, and there was just always that connection here. I don’t think it was ever going to be lost on my side, because I knew Columbus was going to be my home. So, I think me circling back and coming back to the organization just cements that.”
Kekalainen wasn’t one of Nash’s ties to the Blue Jackets, but he had built close ties with the team’s original owner, the late John H. Mcconnell, and his son, John P., the current majority owner. Nash was Jackets captain from 2008 to ’12 and led them to their first playoff appearance in 2009.
His wife, Jessica, is from Dublin, and Nash had spent enough time in Columbus to comfortably put down roots. He never lost sight of the Blue Jackets, who were interested in bringing him back last season as a player before Nash retired at age 34 because of concussionrelated issues.
“It feels normal,” said Nash, who has a one-year contract that will be revisited next offseason. “You come walking back in the rink, park in the loading dock and it just feels normal. You walk into the dressing room and into the offices upstairs, and it just feels the way that it should feel.”
Nash’s role was announced among a slate of frontoffice promotions after the team lost former president of hockey operations John Davidson to the Rangers in May.
Rather than filling Davidson’s position, Kekalainen has become the top-ranking member of the department and is divvying up roles among a staff that he largely hired.
Aside from Nash, associate general manager Bill Zito was given added duties of senior vice president of hockey operations and alternate governor, joining Kekalainen and team president Mike Priest in that regard. Other promotions included director of player personnel Basil Mcrae and director of hockey administration Josh Flynn getting assistant general manager roles, with Chris Clark moving from director of player development to Mcrae’s former position.
“All of them are well deserved and we’re happy to be developing people and moving along into bigger and better things,” Kekalainen said. “Part of building the team on the ice is what we have here upstairs, and we’re happy with where we’re at.”
That includes the new guy.
“I think he’ll be a great addition to our staff,” Kekalainen said of Nash. “He brings a lot of knowledge fresh from the player’s side and perspective, and that’s what we’re looking forward to the most — but he’s also a great ambassador to Columbus and the Blue Jackets with the career that he had. So, it’s great to have him.”