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Inevitable: Blue Jackets fire Scott Arniel

Columbus Blue Jackets v Buffalo Sabres

BUFFALO, NY - OCTOBER 27: Scott Arniel , head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets watches play against the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center on October 27, 2011 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

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You can make it seven.

Scott Arniel is the seventh head coach to be fired this season as the Blue Jackets have decided to let Arniel go after leading Columbus to the worst record in the NHL. Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch reports that assistant coach, and former Wild head coach, Todd Richards will take over as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

Arniel’s record with Columbus this season finishes at a miserable 11-25-5 with just 27 points in the standings. Through one and a half seasons in Columbus, Arniel finishes 45-60-18.

This summer, the Blue Jackets spent big to get James Wisniewski and Jeff Carter and tried to set things up for a possible run at the playoffs. Instead it saw suspensions and injuries get the worst of things on top of miserable goaltending by Steve Mason as well to see the Blue Jackets fall to the bottom of the West and 20 points out of eighth place in the Western Conference.

Arniel also struggled to figure out just what he wanted to do with his lineup and had his ups and downs in handling the team’s potential young stars. The most obvious situation came when Derick Brassard ended up in the doghouse leading to his agent pointing the finger for Columbus’ struggles at Arniel just last month.

A ton of blame falls on Arniel for not being able to figure things out, but now it’s on GM Scott Howson to figure out how to save his own job as well. This is a situation that isn’t going to change overnight the way it did in St. Louis.