Blue Jackets president gives vote of confidence to GM and coach

Oct 20, 2011, 12:54 PM EDT

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You know a team’s off to a bad start when votes of confidence are flying around six games into the season

Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch reports that Blue Jackets president Mike Priest is fully behind GM Scott Howson and coach Scott Arniel, refusing to judge the team without seeing how it does with key players like James Wisniewski (suspended) and Kristian Huselius (torn chest muscle).

“When we have our whole team assembled, and we have time to digest it, then we’ll be able to really take a hard look and evaluate it,” Priest said.

Howson also gave a vote of confidence to Arniel.

“I think we have a great coaching staff and we’re going to find our way out of this,” said Howson.

The Blue Jackets (0-5-1) are in Detroit tomorrow to take on the undefeated Red Wings. Hey, good luck with that.

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east96st - Oct 20, 2011 at 3:11 PM

What’s being overlooked here is Mike Priest is a major part of the problem. The guy is in so far over his head it’s embarrassing. What’s worse is he’s incompetent AND has an attitude. Start with getting rid of Priest and THEN work your way down. A complete overhaul of this organization has been long overdue. The team is abysmal and the fan base is alienated and angry at being taken for granted for so long. When December rolls around, Columbus will start major road construction right by Nationwide Arena. Who’s going to sit in a traffic jam for two hours to watch this team? What person could possibly hate their life so much that they will endure that for a Jackets game? We all know how the game will go – bad goaltending, worse defense, and the worse power play in the League will mean yet another 3-2 or 4-3 loss. No “kiss-cams”, t–shirt, or pizza giveaways can hide the obvious flaws anymore. Sometimes I think nothing will get better until they suffer the humiliation of playing a home game with no one in attendance. Unfortunately, some masochists will always show up, no matter what, and the misery will continue.