Don Waddell has a lot on his plate in his dual roles as the Blue Jackets' president of hockey operations and general manager .
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Since officially leaving the Carolina Hurricanes to join the Jackets' front office May 29 , the 65-year-old executive has met with his executive staff, at least 10 players and head coach Pascal Vincent while also purchasing a home in the Columbus area with his wife, Cheryl, who did most of the legwork.
Waddell has so many things cooking that he opted not to attend the past week's NHL scouting combine in Buffalo, where prospects for the draft June 28-29 in Las Vegas were tested and interviewed.
"I'm a sponge right now," Waddell said. "I'm meeting with everybody and the staff. I have a lot of people to go through and I'm just learning what everybody knows."
That includes Vincent, who signed a two-year contract in September after Mike Babcock's resignation led to his promotion days before training camp. Prior to making any personnel decisions, Waddell hopes to learn more about what he's already got — including his head coach.
That process has begun in earnest.
"I probably spent about five hours with him, just talking about his whole history of how he got to where he is, and then his philosophies, his structure and how he likes to play," Waddell said. "I want to know how he wants to play regardless of the personnel. If he had his perfect team, how would he want to play? It's trying to learn about all those kinds of things."
Vincent, 52, spent much of last season laying out that vision for the Blue Jackets, fans and media . He'd prefer to coach an up-tempo team that controls pace through winning battles and applies pressure while possessing the puck a lot. Vincent also worked on building a "culture," by doling out repercussions to players of all experience levels via ice time reductions and healthy scratches .
The Blue Jackets , one of the NHL's youngest teams again last season, struggled through the first couple months and dropped out of contention quickly. They improved from November through early March, but a rash of injuries decimated the roster the final six weeks.
One of those injuries sidelined rookie Adam Fantilli , who was selected third overall in last year's draft . A severe calf laceration in late January ended his season about halfway into it, and he was just one of the Jackets' top players who went down.
Vincent's systems and structure were effective, at times, but the Jackets also struggled for much of the season to close games out while leading. Vincent feels a "foundation" was started and a second spin as coach would look different, especially with a healthy NHL roster and "tougher" training camp.
"Early in the season ... new coach, new systems, new everything," Vincent said. "OK, that's fine, but from midseason to the trading period, we were playing really good hockey. We were in games, and we were winning games. So, that's the part we need to evaluate, because we had our team at that moment. ... They understood what we were looking for. The vision. How do we evaluate that block and build from there?"
Keeping the coaching staff intact would be a solid starting point.
Should Waddell make a change with Vincent, it would be the second offseason in a row the Blue Jackets hired a new head coach, who will bring in different systems, structure and expectations. There's a risk of losing whatever was built this past season, and Vincent's replacement would technically be the Jackets' fourth head coaching voice since April 2023 ― barely more than a year's time.
That's a lot of turnover.
It's also why Waddell is a "sponge," right now, wanting to make sure he's making informed calls if he opts to replace Vincent or others. Vincent isn't shy about his desire to stay. He loves Columbus, has an appreciation for the support Blue Jackets fans provide to a rebuilding team and knows there's a lot of young talent growing at Nationwide Arena.
"We have the support, we have the tools, and we have the resources that you need to have to be successful," Vincent said. "Now, it's just to build on top of that. Do I want to be here? Yeah, I want to be here ... bad. When you really care about something, you invest all of yourself, and I didn't fall short of that. I invested everything I've got, and I'm still going to do it until the day I'm being told, 'No, don't show up to the rink tomorrow.'"
Waddell isn't tipping his hand. He has enjoyed getting to know Vincent, as most who meet the Jackets' amiable bench boss do, but no decisions have been made on anything but Waddell's new house.
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"He's a good guy, right?" Waddell said of Vincent. "He cares. He's very passionate. We're fortunate in our business. I haven't run across too many bad people in our business. We're fortunate that we have a lot of good people. Obviously, Pascal fits right in there. He's got a lot of thoughts, a lot of passion for what he does."
The question is whether he'll still apply that passion in Columbus next season.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Don Waddell spent 'five hours' getting to know Pascal Vincent
