Columbus Blue Jackets Head Coach Dave King has been relieved of his coaching duties and will be replaced on an interim basis for the remainder of the 2002-03 season by club President and General Manager Doug MacLean, the Blue Jackets announced today. Associate Coach Newell Brown and Assistant Coaches Gerard Gallant and Gord Murphy will remain on the staff. MacLean's first game behind the bench will be Wednesday night when Columbus visits the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center.
Through 40 games this season, the Blue Jackets are 14-20-4-2 (34 points), including a 7-15-3-1 mark since November 12, and rank 14th in the Western Conference. A 5-1 loss at home vs. Nashville on Monday dropped Columbus to 3-7-1-0 in its last 11 games.
"This was an extremely difficult decision to make because Dave King is a tremendous person who has worked extremely hard for the Blue Jackets organization over the past three years," said MacLean. "However, at this time I don't think we are where we should be as a team and this will allow me to evaluate our personnel from a different perspective. It is important for our organization to move forward."
MacLean, 48, was named General Manager of the Blue Jackets on Feb. 11, 1998. A month later he was named President of the organization and as its top executive, holds the dual role of overseeing both the business and hockey operations of the franchise as well as the management of Nationwide Arena. He has spent the past 17 years in the National Hockey League, serving in a variety of coaching and personnel capacities with the Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals.
Prior to joining the Blue Jackets, MacLean served as the head coach of the Panthers, where he compiled an 83-71-33 record (.532 winning percentage), including a 76-59-29 mark (.552) during the 1995-96 and 1996-97 campaigns. During that span, only five teams posted more victories than Florida û Detroit (100), Colorado (96), Philadelphia (90), New Jersey (82) and the New York Rangers (79). In his first season as a NHL head coach, he led the club to the 1996 Eastern Conference championship and a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Colorado Avalanche.
King compiled 64-106-21-13 record (.397) in 204 games with the Blue Jackets since being named the club's first head coach on July 5, 2000. Columbus posted a 28-39-9-6 record (71 points) during its inaugural season in 2000-01 and went 22-47-8-5 (57 points) during the 2001-02 campaign. Prior to joining Columbus, King served as the head coach of the Calgary Flames from 1992-95. During that time, he led Calgary to a 109-76-31 record in 216 games. His NHL career coaching record stands at 173-182-52-13 (.489) in 420 games. He also served as an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens from 1997-99 and was the longtime coach of the Canadian National and Olympic Teams.
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