Blue Jackets fire head coach Arniel
Posted January 9, 2012 9:48 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Columbus Blue Jackets fired head coach Scott Arniel on Monday morning, following the last-place team’s 7-4 road loss to the Anaheim Ducks, the team with the second-worst record in the league, on Sunday.
Assistant coach Todd Richards will replace Arniel as the team’s head coach on an interim basis.
Richards, who joined the club as an assistant coach on June 20, will make his debut behind the Jackets’ bench on Tuesday when the club visits the Chicago Blackhawks.
Richards, 45, compiled a 77-71-16 record as the head coach of the Minnesota Wild from 2009 through 2011. Prior to joining the Wild, he served as an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks in 2008-09, when the club compiled an NHL-best 53-18-11 record.
Arniel was named the fifth head coach in Blue Jackets history on June 8, 2010, and compiled a 45-60-18 record in 123 games, including an 11-25-5 mark this season.
Arniel leaves a Columbus team that is in last place overall and has lost nine of its last 11 games.
