Don Waddell walked into Nationwide Arena on Wednesday afternoon for his introductory press conference. He might be turning 66 in August, but he says he still has a lot to offer and believes he can make a difference for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Waddell spoke for almost 30 minutes while indicating that there is still a lot to figure out. He will need time to go through the bevy of issues facing the Blue Jackets.
Although he couldn’t answer a lot of those questions now, he talked about his motivation for coming to the Blue Jackets and why he believes he can make a difference.
Blue Jackets Wanted Experience
It was no secret that the Blue Jackets were looking for an experienced manager who was part of a winning team. John Davidson alluded to that in his opening remarks.
“With the decision to look for a general manager, we wanted someone with experience in building a team and runs at a high level, within a culture that is strong and sustainable,” Davidson said. “Don understands how to connect people and that was the bond between the team and its fans. And there is no greater example of that than the bond between the Blue Jackets and the Fifth Line.”
Davidson then confirmed that he has turned things over to Waddell to run Hockey Operations. Waddell later confirmed that he will be the President of Hockey Operations and General Manager. There will not be an additional search for a General Manager. It is the Waddell show.
Waddell has been in front offices since the last 1990’s when he won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings as an assistant general manager. He went on to become the first GM of the Atlanta Thrashers. After spending some time with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a scout, he has spent the last 10 seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Waddell becomes the first Blue Jackets’ general manager that was not a first-time hire. His extensive hockey and business background vaulted him to the top of the list.
Waddell Believes He Can Make Difference
Waddell sees that there are pieces within the Blue Jackets. He admitted he needs time to go through things, he says he wouldn’t have taken the job if he felt he couldn’t make a difference.
“I’ve been here since 11:00 today,” Waddell said. “So many questions you want answered I really need some time on. But I wouldn’t take this kind of opportunity at this point in my career unless I felt like we could make a difference. And there’s a lot of good pieces here. The previous management has done a good job with drafting. There’s a lot of challenges of course. That’s why they bring me in. But it’s not like this is an organization that’s gonna take a long time to fix.”
“We’re gonna make strategic moves, but also moves that are gonna make our hockey club not just better today, but for the future. This isn’t a one, trying to make the playoffs, make it one year to make a run and then outside for a long time. The great thing is we have a lot of smart hockey people in this organization. We’re gonna count on everybody to be part of these discussions. So we’ll make decisions as a group. We’ll get this figured out and make everybody here in Columbus proud of the Blue Jackets.”
Quick Hit Takeways
- Waddell met with Pascal Vincent for three minutes on Wednesday before the presser. Waddell will meet with Vincent in the next week or two specifically to talk about what the future will look like. Assistant coach Steve McCarthy played under Waddell in Atlanta. Any decisions on the rest of the staff will be decided over time as well.
- Waddell said he believes he will have all the tools necessary to get this fixed quickly. Cites ownership providing the tools and resources necessary. He also said there would be no excuses.
- Waddell will be allowed to participate with the Blue Jackets at the NHL Draft with no restrictions. He said he spoke to Tom Dundon about this and other topics, even going as far as admitting they still talk regularly today.
- Waddell wants to focus near term getting ready for the Combine and NHL Draft. Expectations for the team will come up later on. He said to ask the same question a few months from now.
The next month and beyond will certainly not be short of storylines. The NHL Combine kicks off in Buffalo next week where the Blue Jackets will meet face-to-face with several top prospects. From there, it will be the final draft meetings in preparation for Las Vegas. Once that’s done, it will be time to face questions about the staff and the roster head on.
The Waddell era is officially underway in Columbus. He doesn’t lack confidence and believes things can be fixed in relatively short order. Time will tell if he can live up to that word.
