The decision for John Tortorella and the Columbus Blue Jackets to "part ways" after almost six seasons together was all but inevitable.

Tortorella was going to be out of contract this summer, and the team is coming off a season in which they finished 18-26-12, bottom-five in the league (with the potential to finish fourth-worst if Vancouver picks up five more points in its last seven games). They also had the second-worst goal difference, worst 5-on-5 xGF%, were mired in controversies small and large at different points in the season, and just seemed content to chug, slowly and miserably, toward the finish line.

Had this been an 82-game season, one wonders whether Tortorella would have gotten the axe before this, but there also seems to have been an air around this of, "Thanks for all you di