Jackets' GM has scouts, coaches speaking same language
/The Columbus Blue Jackets held a press conference Wednesday morning to officially announce the contract extension for head coach Todd Richards.
GM Jarmo Kekalainen offered a glimpse into how, upon entering the Jackets organization, he has worked to mesh the mindset of the scouts and coaching staff.
"I think the one thing I've done from the beginning is that I always felt that being on the scouting side and when I was running the amateur scouting and being the director of player personnel for Ottawa, I felt the scouts and coaches talked a different language. You know, you talk about the potential of players and the upside and all of that and coaches want to see it now.
"I've changed our reporting system a little bit so that we're trying to speak the same language so the scouts understand the now and the coaches understand the tomorrow and the future and the potential and the different areas the coaches evaluate rather than just the areas the scouts evaluate.
"So that's been a goal of mine, where we kind of integrate those two areas better together. A coach's job is to win hockey games, especially when you're in the NHL when you're in the best league in the world. Your job is to win hockey games, but to win hockey games, we've got to get better as a group obviously. To get better as a group, we've got to get better as individuals. So there's a lot of different levels to how to win hockey games today. If you just think of today, in the 82-game season even, and moving into one season to another, it's not going to work. So that's why we try to include the coaches in those decisions.
"I'm also a firm believer that coaches can't be part of the decisions that they haven't scouted for. Like, let's say that we're talking about a trade and you don't know the player except for when they played against us or saw some tape, you're not going to get included in the decision. It's just the way it is. You're not. Unless you want to go and see him on the road play 10 games live and then watch another 10 games on the tape like we do.
"As far the decisions we have on our team, there's nobody that knows our guys and what they do every day as well as the coaches because they're in the locker room. They live with them every day. They see what they do. We try to do that too, we try to put the finger on the pulse of the team every day. That's getting to know the guys as well as the coaches, but we watch from up above and it's a different angle. It's a different angle that's a lot of times needed too, but the coaches are the ones really know the players and what they do every day. So that's why I think the decisions we make with our team moving forward into the future, we have to include the coaches in those decisions. Possibly on some other ones too because Richie's worked with some different organizations, knows some players from those teams, so there can be a lot of situations where he can be involved in the trade decisions as well."