Ken Hitchcock spoke to the media Thursday afternoon less than 24 hours after being dismissed as team head coach.  The former coach spent nearly 30 minutes talking how his successes and failures as coach, the Blue Jackets’ future, and his personal future in the NHL. Hitchcock started by thanking the organization, team President Mike Priest, team owners for his time spent in Columbus.  

“I came here to Columbus with my eyes wide open,” Hitchcock said.  “I had never started something from the ground floor. I wanted the challenge. We obviously made significant progress moving this team forward. We took a step backwards this year in some avenues but in my thought process, the step backwards was visible and natural when you try to integrate more younger and newer players into the program. We struggled at times and we had success at times. We were inconsistent.” 

Hitchcock’s downfall began Nov. 11 when the team lost to the Detroit Red Wings 9-1 at home. Since then, the team went from the top of the Western Conference standings to 14^th and well out of the playoff picture, winning only 3 out of 24 games during a long losing stretch.  

He was often criticized for his handling of young talent, most notably Nikita Filatov. Filatov was the team’s first round pick in the 2008 draft . After just playing a handful of games in the last two seasons, Filatov decided to return to Russia.  

Hitchcock used captain Rick Nash as an example of how he can handle younger players. 

“How old was Nash when I came in?” Hitchcock said about his handling of young players. “I don’t think that is fair. He was the same age as (Derick) Brassard or any of the younger guys. It is the changing of the culture and I took this as a challenge to change the culture and we got it changed. Now we didn’t reach our goal this year but we got the culture change. Everybody now knows what is expected when you come in to be a Blue Jacket.” 

Wednesday evening, general manager Scott Howson talked about the team not buying into Hitchcock’s message about playing a checking style of play. Some of the players grew frustrated through the season about the lack of a wide-open style of play. This was most evident after the team’s 6-5 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 16 when players openlysaid they preferred the wide-open style over the checking style. 

“If checking is my style, (I am) guilty as charged,” Hitchcock said. “That is the only way you can win. It is going to have to do it to win. You have no choice… It is the only way to win in the league. You have to check to score. Every coach that has a winning program knows that.” 

 Hitchcock ended his question by being asked what his proudest moment was. He responded with when the Blue Jackets clinched their first ever playoff berth while playing in Chicago against the Blackhawks.  

“It is the first time I have coached in my life where the other coaches on the other bench are clapping for you,” Hitchcock said. “Usually they are swearing are you. That is the first time in my life where the whole coaching staff turns and faces you and starts clapping. I have never seen that in my life. They weren’t thrilled by players on the ice for their own team.”  

The day after Htichcock’s dismissal, some of the players shared some of the blame. 

“It is a team game,” forward Kristian Huselius said. “Everybody is involved. That is just the way it is… He wasn’t here to finish the job. We all feel sorry for him.” 

“It is unfortunate the coach has to take the blame for performance on the ice,” Nash said. “That is the way sports work (however).” 

Hitchcock will join team Canada in 10 days in Vancouver as an assistant coach. It is unclear where he will land following the season. There have been rumors that Hitchcock could be retained as an advisor to the organization as he is still under contract paying him $1.3 million through the 2011-2012 season. He did not dismiss the possibility but said he won’t jump at the first job offer.