Blue Jackets reportedly considering Hall of Famer for HC opening

The Columbus Blue Jackets are one team looking to name a new head coach next offseason, with reported candidates ranging from current associate coach Pascal Vincent to controversial veteran coach Mike Babcock. On Tuesday, Larry Brooks of the New York Post added Hall of Famer and CSKA Moskva head coach Sergei Fedorov into the mix of Columbus coaching targets.

While Fedorov is best remembered for his playing days as a Detroit Red Wing, he did play the better part of three seasons as a Blue Jacket in the latter stages of his career between 2005 and 2008. Overseas, his two seasons as a head coach have been wildly successful, winning the KHL’s Coach of the Year award in 2021-22 while also taking home the league championship.

Fedorov’s hire would certainly come out of left field — it’s rare for NHL teams to opt for an external voice behind the bench with such little coaching experience. However, it’s a move that has been shown to be successful in the past few years, namely Martin St. Louis in Montreal.

Here are more notes from around the league...

• During an appearance on CHEK’s "Donnie and Dhali" show, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said he doesn’t expect the Vancouver Canucks to go the buyout route to free up cap space this summer. Per Friedman, general manager Patrik Allvin would rather pursue trades to get some undesirable contracts off Vancouver’s books, but that would likely involve the Canucks losing some draft capital. Some likely candidates to be offloaded are winger Conor Garland (three years left, $4.95M cap hit) and defender Tyler Myers (one year left, $6M cap hit).
• The Chicago Blackhawks denied a request from the Pittsburgh Penguins to interview Blackhawks associate general manager Jeff Greenberg for the team’s general manager vacancy, per The Athletic’s Scott Powers. Greenberg completed his first year as an NHL executive in 2022-23 after spending 10 years in the baseball operations department for the MLB’s Chicago Cubs. He’s quickly gaining esteem around the league, and the Blackhawks aren't willing to part with him.