Don Waddell was hired to change the Jackets culture and trajectory. So, what has he actually done towards these paired goals? Let's examine by position.
Goalie - The Jackets #1 weakness since Bob departed for Florida. For two seasons running, Blue Jackets goalies have allowed 300+ goals. Waddell's answer is.... bringing back Elvis and Tarasov with Greaves the #3 goalie. Grade:F
Defensemen: The blueline has been erratic over the last four seasons, often due to injury to important starters. Waddell's answer has been to buy out Boqvist, not tender Bean a qualifying offer, resign Jake Christiansen and sign 37 year old Jack Johnson, apparently because Johnson asked to retire here. There are still three roster spots open, so one assumes that prospects in Cleveland will fill those spots. Grade: If Johnson is the 7th D, B+; if Johnson is the third pairing starter, D+
Forwards: While scoring, especially on the power play, has long been a problem for the Jackets, exciting and talented prospects have been seeping into the Jackets' forward lines. It is reasonable to think that, as they mature, guys like Fantilli, Marchenko, Johnson and Chinakhov, amongst others, will become scoring machines. Combined with various failed prospects being traded away, not tendered a qualifying offer or removed from the roster via other means since Jarmo was let go and we can believe that improvement on the forward lines is in the offing. To move this improvement along and act as a mentor, Waddell signed Sean Monahan to a 5 year contract. Whether this move is good or bad depends on who you ask. On the one hand, Monahan and Gaudreau were teammates and linemates in Calgary where they worked well together. And Monahan had a surprisingly good year, last season. On the other hand, the reason he was with Montreal for a couple of years is because he became injury prone. Waddell's grade for the forwards depends on which Monahan we get. Not taking Monahan into account, C. If we get a productive Monahan, B. If Monahan spends 25% or more of the season injured, D+
Head Coach: The head coach position for the Jackets has been a black hole since Torts left. Larsen is an above average assistant coach, especially if you don't have him run your power play. As a head coach, he's an above average assistant coach. To this day, I can't understand why Jarmo and JD thought hiring Mike Babcock was a good idea. Okay, none of the allegations made were ever proven. But the shear number of allegations should have been a huge warning sign. His resignation was the best thing he could do for the Jackets. Unfortunately, it came so late that Pascal Vincent became an emergency hire and an example of the Peter Principle. For those of you who don't know, the Peter Principle says that everyone rises to his own level of incompetence. It's obvious, Vincent simply isn't an NHL head coach. So, it's no surprise that Waddell "relieved him of his duties". Though it took him longer than it should have, since even a brain damaged chimpanzee could tell that Vincent was overwhelmed as a head coach. Unfortunately, Waddell's apparent first choice to replace Vincent is not getting hired over a $1.5 million difference between what the Jackets are offering and the Kings want him to be paid. Which kind of messes with Waddell's statement that he's got to get this hire right. So, since Waddell did remove Vincent, I'll give him a C.
Overall: Waddell says all the right things. And despite my preference for a two-way defenseman in the first round of the draft, he did select a highly regarded center and a slew of big defensemen. But what I really like about him is that he left Carolina - a very successful team where the fans loved him like a god - to come here. While he's made a couple of questionable decisions (I still think he should have given Johnson a one day contract to retire a Jacket.), and he's struggled to get a new head coach, it's still early days and we can give him a little benefit of the doubt. Grade:C
Let the arguments (Socratic sense) begin.