Scott Howson Relieved of Duties

Around 8PM on Tuesday, Blue Jackets General Manager Scott Howson was relieved of his duties with the organization. Scott was with the organization since 2007 and his tenure was a rocky one to be sure. While tonight some will trumpet his firing as a success, I will simply point out that on a human level, tonight, an individual who I can personally attest to being a good person lost his job. He and his family will now face the unique challenges that come with that. His performance can certainly be critiqued – and arguably Howson just couldn’t come out on the winning end enough times to justify keeping him in a leadership role. Let’s look at some high and lowlights.

CONTRACTS

Howson was notorious for giving out the big contracts to young players after a short-tenure that looked promising: RJ Umberger, Steve Mason, Derick Brassard, Fedor Tyutin all became albatrosses around our neck when performance suffered and contracts were too big to move – resulting in poor return. Howson believed these young players were to be cornerstones to the team and he bet wrong. Not only did his judgement hurt us, but this philosophy was diametrically opposed to the John Davidson approach of growing young players and supporting a team with affordable free agent talent. Something was going to have to give.

PLAYOFFS

We all know this one: One trip to the show, four losses. The Playoffs were never seen again. And they seemingly just got farther and farther away.

TRADES

Here Howson’s record is spotty depending on how you view certain moves. He gave up a first round pick for RJ Umberger in 2008. He also picked up Fedor Tyutin for the playoff run (while dispensing Zherdev). Howson got the Jackets Antoine Vermette in exchange for LeClaire, picked up Mark Letestu for a 4th round pick, and swapped Kris Russell for Nikita Nikitin. On the less positive side, getting rid of fan favorites Raffi Torres and Jason Chimera and bringing in Jurcina and Clark resulted in diminishing returns and late ‘splashes’ such as Lepisto and Upshall in exchange for Dane Byers and Klesa brought one of the more dismal misses in a run for the playoffs. In recent history, the handling of Jeff Carter and Rick Nash were mocked by many and, while the jury is still out, arguably wrote the final chapter is Howson’s time with the CBJ.

FREE AGENTS

One big win Howson had here was the acquisition of James Wisniewski. “Wiz” was the first coming of the “I want to be here” club. Of course many argue Wiz is overpaid, but he’s trumpeting the team and buoying the fans. Vinny Prospal is another Howson move – a guy poised to always challenge the team whether on the ice or in the front office is one few can argue with. On the other hand, Howson is also responsible for Mike Commodore (enough said) and Kristian Huselius, who ultimately blamed the CBJ for his “forced retirement”. Of course, the list is long of players we COULDN’T keep, and the reputation of always having to overpay, or being a stopping point along the way of a player’s career shrouded the city and the team in negativity.

RECORD

The Blue Jackets were 173-190-59 under Howson’s tenure. Winning fixes everything. He just didn’t do it.

COACHES

While never confirmed, it’s been long rumored that Ken Hitchcock, the only coach to take us to the playoffs (and to come to Columbus with Hall of Fame credentials) was driven out of town due to “losing the room”. Once Hitch was gone, we waved hello and goodbye to Claude Noel and suffered through the Scott Arniel experiment. The coaching merry-go-round didn’t help our stability or credibility and the caliber of coaching arguably impacted our success. Ultimately, it’s possible that Howson’s deference to the players and inability to bring in a high caliber of coaches was yet one more nail in the proverbial coffin.

SCOUTING & DEVELOPMENT

This is an area where Howson put some good pieces in place. Doug MacLean left an organization in shambles and Howson found strong assets, including Cam Atkinson (08), John Moore (09), Ryan Johansen (10), Boone Jenner (11) and Ryan Murray and our Goalie crop of 2012. Of course Howson also drafted Nikita Filatov. Development was a more hazardous area and we became guilty time and again of rushing young players to the NHL before they were ready. You have to believe that JD wanted the absolute best guy in the GM seat as we prepare for perhaps the biggest draft in CBJ history in which we have three first round picks for the deepest class in hockey since 2003.

CHARACTER

While character accounts for zero goals and zero wins, I will point out that Scott Howson never shied away from the repercussions of his actions. Particularly last season, the rockiest and most dismal to date, Scott Howson always kept his commitment to speak to season ticket holders, press conference audiences, attendees at special events and reporters during intermissions etc. He faced the firing squad he wrought. As a person, that says something.

Many are suggesting we will find out the name of the new Blue Jackets’ General Manager by tomorrow. Overall, I think that if we buy in to what John Davidson tells us – that permanent change is coming – that this move was necessary. Real change can’t just be a new facade in the locker room it has to be at every level that previously failed us. Let this be a signal that we are moving forward and that the moves towards a continued successful franchise are happening.