Mike Babcock has resigned as the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, with associate coach Pascal Vincent being promoted to head coach.

Babcock was officially hired on July 1 and had not yet coached a game for the team. However, he ran into hot water when reports surfaced that he had viewed players' private photos on their cell phones, an exercise described by Babcock and a few players as a team building, "get to know you" exercise. Despite the explanations and a press release by the team, both the NHL and NHLPA were investigating. Based on reports about Babcock's previous coaching techniques, he really had no room for error, whether he had good intentions or not.

Vincent has never been an NHL head coach, but he has head coaching experience in the QMJHL and AHL, and he also has several years' experience as an assistant coach for both Columbus and Winnipeg. He is nowhere near as controversial a hire as Babcock was, which means he should have perhaps been the coach the Jackets hired all along.  

There is precedence for a late-offseason coaching change, and it doesn't bode well for the Blue Jackets in the short term. In 2016 Patrick Roy resigned from the Avalanche in late August, with Jared Bednar taking over as head coach. That season, the Avalanche posted one of the worst non-expansion records of all time, finishing with a meager 48 points. Fortunately, the Avalanche stuck with Bednar, who eventually led them to a Stanley Cup win in 2022. Vincent was already an associate coach for the Jackets and no doubt familiar with the team, but he will be hard-pressed to implement his system just three days before training camp.

In the short term, this sudden change of plans may not be beneficial for the Jackets, who are trying to improve on their last-place finish in the Eastern Conference and need some sort of stability. That being said, new coaches have had immediate success, so don't rule that out either. The Jackets should also have better luck than they had last season – particularly with injuries, which aren't on the coach. Either way, the report reaffirmed the thought that Babcock isn't suitable for today's NHL, so it was best for Jackets management to rip off the band-aid sooner rather than later.