BREAKING: Penguins' Rivals Fire Their GM

"The Columbus Blue Jackets have relieved Jarmo Kekalainen of his duties as general manager of the National Hockey League club, President of Hockey Operations and Alternate Governor John Davidson announced today. Davidson, along with the team's hockey operations management team, will assume general manager's duties while the club goes through the process of hiring a replacement.

«This is one of the hardest days I have had in my career as Jarmo is a friend, someone I have a great deal of respect for and someone who has done a lot of good things during his time here,» said Davidson. «While the future of our club is bright, our performance has not been good enough and it is time for a fresh perspective as we move forward.»

Kekalainen, 57, was named the third general manager in Blue Jackets history on Feb. 13, 2013. The club amassed a 410-362-97 record in 869 games during his tenure, which is the longest in franchise history. Columbus qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs five times (2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) and posted its four winningest seasons based on points percentage during that span: 2016-17 (50-24-8, 108 pts., .659), 2018-19 (47-31-4, 98 pts., .598), 2017-18 (45-30-7, 97 pts., .591) and 2019-20 (33-22-15, 81 pts., .579)."