Rothman and Ice June 15, 2021 971thefan.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from 971thefan.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Six head coaching candidates for the Blue Jackets
Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch: The Columbus Blues Jackets hiring a head coach could be done sooner than later. Coaching candidates are being interviewed. Multiple sources have confirmed candidates for the position.
Brad Larsen – Has been with the Blue Jackets for 11 seasons, and an assistant coach for the past seven seasons.
David Quinn – Blue Jackets president John Davidson said it would be “negligent” to not consider his former coach in New York.
Gerard Gallant – Was interviewed by the Blue Jackets via video while he was in Riga, Latvia for the World Championships.
There were some favorable results in the Central Division last night, as both the Columbus Blue Jackets and Dallas Stars lost. Chicago remains two points back of the Nashville Predators for fourth-place in the Division, but things are not going to get any easier as the season continues down the final stretch of games.
• Chicago has lost 10 of their last 14 games, all in regulation. Over that 14-game stretch, they have been outscored 48-30 and are averaging just 2.14 goals per game since March 7th, which ranks 27th in the NHL.
• More damning numbers for the Blackhawks over their last 14 games include a league-worst 68.6% on the penalty-kill and a league-worst 45.0% at the face-off dot. They have also lost every game since March 7th in which their opponent has scored first (0-6-0).
The Chicago Blackhawks are at the beginning of a ten-game stretch in their schedule where they will be taking on teams in the chase for the fourth and final spot in the Central Division playoff race (currently occupied by the Nashville Predators). Chicago went into the ten-game stretch tied with the Predators, but kicked things off by losing to the Predators in regulation. The result knocked them into fifth-place, two points behind Nashville and three points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Dallas Stars.
Of the nine games left in the stretch, Chicago will take on the Predators three times and will face the Blue Jackets, Stars, and Detroit Red Wings in a two-game set each. Of the final 17 games for the Blackhawks this season, they have 11 against teams in the playoff chase.
Is Pierre-Luc Dubois in Montreal a realistic dream?
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Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
The NHL season is barely under way and there’s already a divorce brewing in Columbus between star forward Pierre-Luc Dubois and head coach John Tortorella. Dubois is coming off a contentious off-season where he wanted a big-money contract, but the Blue Jackets seemed unwilling to budge on that front, somewhat reminiscent of the P.K. Subban standoff with Marc Bergevin heading into the 2013 season. In the end, Dubois signed a two-year deal worth $5 million per season, which was an extreme value for the Blue Jackets.