THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets have fired coach Ken Hitchcock less than two weeks before he’ll step behind the bench as an assistant with Team Canada at the Vancouver Games.
Assistant coach Claude Noel was chosen to lead the team on an interim basis.
General manager Scott Howson announced the firing a day after the struggling Blue Jackets blew a 1-0 lead in a listless 5-1 loss at Colorado. Columbus stands 14th of the 15 teams in the Western Conference with a 22-27-9 record and 53 points.
"It wasn’t working," Howson said. "The team wasn’t responding to the message."
Hitchcock was fired less than a year after he led Columbus to its first ever playoff appearance.
The Blue Jackets play their next game at home against Dallas on Thursday night.
"You’re going to see some changes," Noel said. "But I’m not going to reinvent the game."
The 54-year-old Noel joined the Blue Jackets as an assistant coach in June 2007, after spending four seasons as the head coach of the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals. During that time, he led the club to a 183-94-12-31 regular-season record, three 100-point seasons and two West Division titles.
Built around star forward Rick Nash, the Blue Jackets made it to the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs a year ago before being swept by the Detroit Red Wings.
"This is an emotional day for me," Noel said. "Ken Hitchcock is a friend of mine. He’s a tremendous coach. I’ve been blessed to be able to learn from him. This is a sad day."
It’s the second time Hitchcock has been fired from a coaching job in the weeks leading up to the Olympics — the Dallas Stars let him go on Jan. 25, 2002, and Canada went on to win gold in Salt Lake City the following month with Hitchcock serving as an assistant.
He’ll hold the same role on Mike Babcock’s staff at the Vancouver Olympics — his third straight Games.
Hitchcock is often labelled a demanding coach, but has been one of the most respected in the NHL for more than a decade. He won a Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1999, led the team to a runner-up finish the following year, and helped guide the Philadelphia Flyers to the Eastern Conference final in 2004.
The 58-year-old native of Edmonton surpassed 1,000 games coached earlier this season and has a career regular-season record of 533-350-158.
Hitchcock’s other international assignments include a head coaching job at the 2008 IIHF World Hockey Championship and assistant roles at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and 1987 world junior championship.
Hitchcock picked up his 500th career victory behind the Columbus bench a year ago, but the team appeared stagnant after a fast start this season.
The club got off to a 12-6-2 record through Nov. 19, but then wilted. The Jackets won just three of their next 24 games, spiralling out of the playoff picture. The defence sagged at times and even when last year’s rookie of the year, goalie Steve Mason, had a good game, the offence fell apart.
"We don’t consider the season lost," Howson said. "We’ll play hard the rest of the season and see what happens."
Asked why he decided to fire Hitchcock now, Howson said, "We thought Hitch deserved a chance to work out these last 37 games. We kept hoping he’d find a decision."
With the Blue Jackets, he was 125-123-36. They had their finest season ever a year ago, when they went 41-31-10 (92 points).
Hitchcock’s contract runs through the 2011-12 season at US$1.3 million per season.
He did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
"Ken Hitchcock joined the Blue Jackets at a time when our team needed credibility, stability and structure, which is exactly what he provided and for that we are extremely grateful," Blue Jackets president Mike Priest said.
– With files from The Canadian Press.
