Columbus Blue Jackets have relieved former Jets/Moose coach Pascal Vincent of his duties

Long-time Jets/Moose coach Pascal Vincent, who concluded his first season as an NHL head coach, has been relieved of his duties as the Blue Jackets announced this afternoon indicating he would no longer be the bench boss in Columbus.

Vincent was thrust into his first NHL head coaching gig when the Blue Jackets announced Mike Babcock had resigned in September just ahead of the 2023-24 season. As if those circumstances weren’t difficult enough the team lost Patrik Laine who was limited to just 18 games where he scored six goals and added six assists.

Of course there’s been tons of turmoil in Ohio with long-time GM Jarmo Kekäläinen getting let go back in February with John Davidson taking over as interim. The team just announced they hired former Hurricanes GM Don Waddell to be the new GM back on May 28th.

Not a huge surprise that the new GM wanted to install his own guy behind the bench but very tough circumstances for the affable Vincent who coached the Blue Jackets to 27 wins, 43 losses and 12 OTL/SOL.

He did get a chance to coach against his former team when he returned to Winnipeg back in early January where he was well received by the Jets and the fans.