Tonight the Columbus Blue Jackets welcomed back former head coach Ken Hitchcock, who coached the team from 2006-2010. While they didn’t have a lot of success with him behind the bench, he did lead them to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history in 2008-09, where they finished the season with 41 wins. He was also instrumental in bringing in the now-iconic cannon which goes off at Nationwide Arena after every Blue Jackets goal.
The Blue Jackets honored the 2023 Hall-of-Fame inductee with a ceremonial face-off and pre-game tribute video. Now 72 years old, the last time Hitchcock was behind an NHL bench was back in 2018-19 when he coached the Edmonton Oilers to a 26-28-8 record. In Columbus, he accumulated a decent 125-123-36 record and retired with a Stanley Cup he won with the Dallas Stars in 1998-99. Overall, he finished with 849 wins in the NHL and 1,598 games coached.