In many ways the 2023-24 season started to fail for the Columbus Blue Jackets before the 2022-23 NHL season even officially finished. 

It was early June and word leaked out that the Blue Jackets planned to hire Mike Babcock, but because he was still getting paid out on his Toronto Maple Leafs contract until June 30, they couldn’t make the hire official until July 1. 

Ten weeks after Babcock was formally hired, it surfaced on the Spittin Chiclets podcast that the coach had asked to see player’s phones in 1-on-1 meetings, in what Babcock called a character-building exercise. 

The NHL and NHLPA opened investigations, and on Sept. 17, Babcock officially resigned and the organization publicly admitted it made a mistake in hiring the coach. 

Blue Jackets ownership at the time expressed concerns abou