Two Quebec head coaches, Pascal Vincent and André Tourigny, live two very different realities despite a context that should nevertheless be similar.
Vincent’s Columbus Blue Jackets have finished 31st, 21st and 28th overall the last three years. Tourigny’s Arizona Coyotes ranked 27th, 31st and 22nd during the same period.
Columbus and Arizona have the two youngest clubs in the NHL after Buffalo and Montreal, with respective averages of 25.8 years for the Jackets and 26.2 years for the Coyotes.
They have two centers 23 or younger on their top three lines, Barrett Hayton and Logan Cooley. The Blue Jackets have five forwards under 23 in their top nine: Yegor Chinakhov, Dmitri Voronkov, Adam Fantilli, Kirill Marchenko and Cole Sillinger.
And yet, at the start of the season, Columbus Blue Jackets president John Davidson and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen were emphasizing the importance of making a significant jump in the standings. The CEO of the Coyotes, Bill Armstrong, gave a more sober speech, contenting himself with hoping for progress in the development of his young group.
This summer, Columbus also gave up first-round picks in 2023 (22nd overall) and second-round picks in 2024 or 2025 to obtain Ivan Provorov and granted 50 million for eight years to Damon Severson, relegated to the third pair in New York. Jersey, in order to improve the team’s defense.
The Coyotes were wiser. They traded a second-round pick to the Kings for 24-year-old defenseman Sean Durzi and hired 29-year-old Matt Dumba for just one year for $3.9 million.
The Coyotes beat the Blue Jackets 3-2 on Thursday night. It was a seventh consecutive loss for Columbus, an eleventh defeat in twelve games. The Blue Jackets are languishing in last place in the Eastern Conference at 28th overall with a 4-9-4 record.
André Tourigny’s team improved to 8-6-2 for 14th overall, the last team to qualify for the playoffs in the West ahead of the St. Louis Blues, six points ahead of their opponents on Thursday, with one more match to go.
Poor Pascal Vincent is doing his best to get the best out of his players. Johnny Gaudreau, 30, six points, including just one goal, in 17 games, with an annual salary of $9.7 million through 2029, was benched with just over six minutes left Thursday. The other star, Patrik Laine, three points in eight games, did not touch the ice from the 11th minute in the third. He earns 8.7 million per year.
It still took audacity to punish Gaudreau in this way since it was an evening where spectators were given a figurine bearing his likeness.
The Blue Jackets’ top two scorers play defense. Zach Werenski and Ivan Provorov each have ten points. Columbus is the only NHL team without a forward to have reached the ten-point mark. The Coyotes have six.
If the trend continues, the Blue Jackets could draft in the top 6 for the fourth year in a row. But senior management may no longer be there in June…