COLUMBUS – The Blue Jackets have reportedly fired Todd Richards, replacing him with John Tortorella, one of the NHL’s firebrand coaches who has been out of work since Vancouver fired him a year ago.
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The news was first reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger.
Richards was fired just hours after a 4-0 loss to the New York Islanders dropped Columbus to 0-7-0, matching the worst start to a season in modern NHL history.
Tortorella will make his debut behind the Blue Jackets’ bench on Thursday, when they play the Minnesota Wild in Xcel Energy Center.
Richards was 127-112-21 behind the Blue Jackets’ bench after taking over for Scott Arniel midway through the 2011-12 season.
He led the Blue Jackets to the first two Stanley Cup playoff wins in franchise history (2014), and also compiled the most wins and highest winning percentage (.531) among full-time coaches.
But Richards’ teams got off to slow starts every season: 5-12-4 in 2013, 6-10-3 in 2013-14 and 6-15-2 in 2014-15. In each of the previous three season, the Blue Jackets had strong finishes: 19-5-3 in 2013, 25-12-3 in 2013-14 and 15-1-1 last season.