The Columbus Blue Jackets fired head coach Ken Hitchcock on Wednesday, and the first person that jumped to mind was not interim replacement Claude Noel, but rather super prospect Nikita Filatov.
The Russian sniper was named the best prospect in the world by The Hockey News last spring, yet he bolted Ohio for the KHL earlier this season after clashing with Hitchcock. An inflexible taskmaster, Hitchcock was using Filatov in a bottom-six role alongside no-hands enforcers, and wasn't prepared to increase the teenager's ice time until his defensive awareness improved.
At the world junior championship in Saskatchewan last month, Filatov represented Russia and made it clear - without saying so directly - that he had no interest in playing for Hitchcock ever again. That week, I spoke with Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson and again it was clear that, ultimately, he was going to have to decide between his coach and his best prospect.
But it was more complicated than that.
Filatov painted such a rosy of picture of his life at home in Moscow, playing for CSKA, that Howson had reason to be nervous. Though Filatov was technically "loaned" to the KHL team, the Jackets had no forcible means of getting him back on North American soil.
So, Howson was right to conclude that the clock was ticking, and that sticking by Hitchcock for too long also increased the risk of Filatov getting too comfortable in Europe. Now, Howson has something to sell Filatov (Columbus's best asset after Rick Nash), and you can bet that his next coach will have patience for young players, and will be willing to overlook the defensive deficiencies of a supremely gifted scorer.