Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen has confidence that coach John Tortorella can turn season around

It wasn’t an absolute vote of confidence that John Tortorella will finish this season as the Blue Jackets’ head coach, but it was close.

General manager Jarmo Kekalainen arranged a video conference Tuesday to address a bubbling cauldron of issues that includes his team’s “maddening” inconsistency, a five-game winless streak that's part of a larger 1-5-2 slide plus increasing chatter that Tortorella is on the hot seat.

“We’ve got a new opportunity tonight, again, to get back on track and I wanted to have this call to just kind of clarify that this coaching staff has gotten us out of slumps before,” Kekalainen said as the Blue Jackets prepared to play the Detroit Red Wings. “They’ve done a great job for us in the past five to six years that they’ve been here, and they are the ones that are going to get out of this jam, as well, with the team that we have.”

Kekalalainen conducted the video conference from his home because an undisclosed member of the team’s hockey-operations staff is undergoing the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols. The issue wasn’t expected to affect the game, which was slated to be the first with a live audience at Nationwide Arena since March 1, 2020.

NHL DEBATE: Which coaches could be feeling the heat?

PENGUINS: Sidney Crosby to miss game due to COVID-19 protocol

RANGERS: How rookie Alexis Lafrenière is adapting to his new life in the NHL

Kekalainen was hopeful that having fans at even 10% capacity in the arena would help the Blue Jackets break out of their funk.

“Let’s put on a performance,” he said. “These guys are also entertainers. Let’s put on a performance for the fans for the first time and enjoy the game.”

There hasn’t been a lot to enjoy this season for players, coaches, fans or those in the executive suite.

The Blue Jackets have gone through turmoil involving Pierre-Luc Dubois, who was traded for Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic, as well as a firestorm after Tortorella benched Laine for an interaction with an assistant coach. And what's happened on the ice has been just as challenging.

Max Domi hasn’t worked out as a center, let alone a top-six pivot. The top four defensemen all have struggled with either poor or inconsistent play. The special teams have had major issues, each ranking among the NHL’s least successful, and a number of new or young forwards haven’t provided what the Jackets were hoping to get — including Mikhail Grigorenko, Emil Bemstom, rookie Liam Foudy and Mikko Koivu, a 37-year-old center who retired after seven games.

Pundits, analysts and numerous fans are now dumping those issues into the collective lap of the coaching staff, which is headed by Tortorella and includes assistants Brad Shaw, Brad Larsen, Kenny McCudden and Manny Legace.

After the unexpected firing of Claude Julien last week by the Montreal Canadiens, the natural inclination of many is to do some simple math and come up with “Tortorella is next to go,” as the answer.

Kekalainen is using more complicated calculations, factoring in a strange 56-game season caused by a pandemic that has obliterated the financials of his and all NHL teams. He has a head coach who has won the most games in franchise history, not to mention its only two playoff series triumphs, and he’s not on the hook to continue with Tortorella beyond this season.

As he sees the situation now, what good would firing him do?

"I keep thinking of different ways of helping the team, and that’s my job and I keep doing it, and trying to figure out ways to get better," Kekalainen said. "But I don’t believe in quick fixes, that you all of a sudden blow up something that you’ve been building for a while. Yes, we’ve had some curveballs this year, in the near past, but we’ve got to deal with them and move forward.”

Kekalainen was asked to clarify if his statement meant Tortorella and the coaching staff are safe for the rest of the season. He didn’t commit to that absolute, but walked right up to the edge of it.

“What I said was that I have 100% confidence that these guys will get us out of this,” Kekalainen said. “They’ve done it before. They’ve done a great job for us before and for many, many years. They have a great track record, both (statistically) and what they do day-to-day here, and I’m a big believer in the process and not just watching the record, but watching what these guys do every day.”

Tortorella was appreciative when told of his GM’s public support, but didn't dodge the sticky situation the Blue Jackets are facing.

“We’re all big boys here,” said Tortorella, who first fielded a question about his job security Sunday in Nashville. “When you’re losing games and you’re playing as poorly as we’re playing, those questions need to be asked. I expected those questions to be asked, probably earlier, but it doesn’t determine how I coach. I’ve always lived by, ‘I’m going to coach the team to try to help this team win.’

"I’m not going to coach a team to try to keep my job. I’m going to try to coach the team to do the best I can for the team and organization and that will never change.”

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets' Jarmo Kekalainen expresses confidence in John Tortorella