Columbus Blue Jackets looking to name coach ‘sooner rather than later’

The NHL draft lottery is finally in the rearview and the Blue Jackets can now focus on their offseason planning.

They’re picking third at the draft June 28-29 in Nashville, so next up is putting together an organizational draft rankings list before hiring a coach to replace Brad Larsen. Interviews have already begun, so what’s left of that process could move quickly.

“The coaching search is going on, has been going on for a while and once we get through these amateur meetings, we’ll get to that with even more of a focus,” Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said Monday night. “We should expect a decision on that sooner rather than later, but we want to make sure we do our due diligence very carefully.”

Kekalainen and the rest of his hockey operations staff have kept a tight lid on information, but the list of available coaching candidates with extensive NHL experience has grown since firing Larsen.

Now available are former Calgary Flames head coach Darryl Sutter and former New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant, who coached the Blue Jackets from 2004-06 and was a candidate for Columbus when Larsen was hired in June 2021.

Peter Laviolette is weighing his future after mutually parting ways with the Washington Capitals, former Vancouver Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau is available and two more big names are without coaching gigs in Mike Babcock and Joel Quenneville.

Babcock hasn’t worked in the NHL since being fired in 2019 by the Toronto Maple Leafs following allegations of ‘verbal assault’ waged by multiple players. Quenneville, second all-time in NHL…