But looking back a quarter-century, while the experience on the ice was memorable, what stands out in the minds of those who were on the original team was the experience. The first Blue Jackets didn’t know each other or the city when they first arrived in Columbus, but it didn’t take long for them to bond.
Those relationships – with each other and with a fanbase that had Jackets fever – have stood the test of time. This past weekend, five members of the squad – head coach Dave King and players Kevin Dineen, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Rostislav Klesla and Tugnutt – reunited in Columbus for the franchise’s first 25th Anniversary Celebration Game.
The five signed autographs and met with fans, dropped the puck and lit the cannon on Saturday night’s win over Tampa Bay, and most importantly swapped stories and talked about what it was like to set the city’s love affair with the sport in motion.
BlueJackets.com talked with the inaugural Jackets about what that team meant to each of them as well as their experiences that first season.
The Coach: Dave King
King is one of the more interesting figures in hockey history, coaching seemingly everywhere throughout a singular career that spanned more than four decades. King’s résumé includes junior, NHL and international coaching gigs, and he had previously been the head coach in Calgary and an assistant in Montreal when general manager Doug MacLean tabbed him to be the first man behind the CBJ bench.
“I have to tell you, the loyalty of our fans was immense. Our team, I think, thrived on that. When you’re an expansion team in that era – the rules have changed a great deal for expansion teams. Now they can get real good jump out of the gate. Our guys faced a big test, but the one thing people don’t really realize about expansion teams in that era, you get a lot of players who join your team and they come from a background where they had to earn everything. They had a lot of bumps in the road, took nothing for granted. They had to deal with disappointment at times, so these guys had a really good inventory of mental skills that made them strong and still probably serve them today in whatever they’re doing.
“But that’s what made our team so good is mentally, they were a strong group. It’s funny, I was asked the other day, ‘Did you ever have to really give your team any static?’ Not really. Every coach I think in every league, a couple of times during the year, you have to give the State of the Union address where you get them refocused and get them back on track, but with these guys, that was never required. They were always ready to go, always full of enthusiasm, and that made it a lot of fun to coach.
“Hockey players are amazing people. They are a brotherhood. They come together very, very quickly. I’ve been lucky to coach a lot of Team Canadas for our nation where 25 NHL players get together and form a team at the World Championships, and it always amazes me every year how quickly they come together. Our team was the same with the Jackets. We had great leadership from our veteran guys, and the young guys were full of enthusiasm, so it was a great combination for good things to happen.
“I had never coached an expansion team. I coached with Calgary and with Montreal prior to coming here, so for me, it was a new adventure, too, as much as it was for the players. I just always remember how difficult it was to get angry with this team because they always gave you all they could give you. No matter what happened, you just knew you could stick with the guys and they would bounce back. I learned a lot about the nature of people and the importance of those mental skills. This group taught me a lot.
“I just loved it, and I know the players enjoyed their time here too. It’s a wonderful place to coach. It’s just a great city, and I can’t tell you how nice it is to be back. It’s terrific.”
The Resident: Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre
Grand-Pierre was acquired by the Blue Jackets from Buffalo in a trade at the 2000 NHL Draft. A physical defenseman, the then-23-year-old had played 27 games over two seasons with the Sabres but dressed in 64 games the opening campaign for the Blue Jackets. He played 202 games with the Blue Jackets over four seasons and returned to Columbus after retirement, and he now serves as a broadcaster on the team’s FanDuel Sports Network games.
“It was a great opportunity, No. 1, for me, but it was probably one of the closest teams that I’ve ever been on. Which is odd, because the only guy I knew on the team was Geoff Sanderson because I played with him in Buffalo the year before. But aside from that, I didn’t know anyone. It was amazing just how fast everybody came together for one common cause, which was to obviously establish hockey here in Columbus and try to find a way to surprise some teams, which I think we did a pretty good job of the first year. But to me, that was probably just the most amount of fun and bonding that this team had, not only on the ice but off the ice as well.
“The only thing we had in common was literally the fact that we’re all on the same team. Everybody had different backgrounds. Obviously we had played against each other. I was younger, so I knew some of the guys that played in the minors and at the NHL level, so I knew a little bit, but not that much. Somehow, Doug MacLean and Dave King, the whole coaching staff did a great job to assemble the right group of players but also making sure that with the leadership, with (captain) Lyle Odelein in place and some of his guys, they really held everybody accountable and together to make sure that we really bonded.
“I was stunned how quickly we came together because you go from one team to another or you make a couple of trades, and you’re like, how is this guy going to fit in the room? Now you have 23 complete strangers, and I can’t even imagine as a team being like, ‘OK, now the season starts in a month from now, let’s get together.’ I can’t believe how quickly it happened with our group, that’s for sure.
“I established myself as an NHL player. I established my life. My family is still here. Looking back 25 years later, if you would have asked me in full honesty in September of 2000 as I was driving down (Interstate) 71 from Buffalo if I would ever see myself living in Columbus, I would have said, ‘Absolutely not,’ because I knew nothing about Columbus. I didn’t know where it was on the map. People were telling me, ‘Hey, you’re going to Buckeye country.’ I didn’t know what a Buckeye was. That’s how clueless I was about everything. I fell in love with the place, and here I am 25 years later and here I am in Columbus and loving it.
“When you come here and your sole focus is to win games and prepare for your job, you don’t realize how big or small hockey is. You could tell that it was not a huge hockey market. Like going to a hockey store – when I’m in Montreal or Buffalo, they’re on every street corner. Here in Columbus, it was pretty hard to find one. But later on, when I was coaching at the high school level, New Albany didn’t have a team and I realized that, and we started that whole environment. Back in 2000, it was maybe like four high school teams, and now you look, there’s three divisions and so many more teams playing.
"As a player, you don’t realize the impact you have on that younger generation. And then obviously with the NHL being here to grow the game, once you retire and see what a lot of guys have done around hockey or what I did in high school, Andrew Cassels with the Learn to Play, Cam Atkinson with The Battery, you don’t realize it until after, and you’re like, 'Wow, it’s really become a hockey city.' So that’s really cool to see as well.
“You still keep in touch with some of the guys, but it’s an unbreakable bond whenever you see these guys somewhere. You were part of that first team. It’s pretty cool.”
The Rookie: Rostislav Klesla
Klesla was the first-ever draft pick of the Blue Jackets, as the Czech blueliner was chosen fourth overall in 2000. Viewed as a do-it-all defenseman and a potential franchise cornerstone, Klesla played just eight games the inaugural season before going back to juniors, but he’d go on to skate in 515 games (10th most in franchise history) over 10 years with Columbus. In an interesting wrinkle, he likely would have been chosen second by Atlanta back in 2000 by current CBJ GM Don Waddell, but the Thrashers instead took Dany Heatley after the Islanders chose goalie Rick DiPietro first overall.
“I always say it was meant to be where I was picked. I was talking to Don Waddell today, and I was supposed to be in Atlanta second overall, but it just played out that I was here. But it’s just meant to be. From the beginning, I could feel something special. Everything was so new, so everybody was trying to establish themselves and create something good. I think we tried that. Even the first year, I was sent back to juniors to develop, but I came back as a 19-year-old and still could feel the same vibe from the first year. That was pretty good.
“It was special to see and be part of the beginning. I never would think I would end up here for 10 years, but it’s just the way it was. I had a good time. I had a fun time. I met great people, good hockey players, and I met lots of friends. It was 10 years, so a big part of my life. I’m really thankful to the Blue Jackets to recognize this first team and the anniversary of 25 years. It’s really good to see. The memories are brought back. It feels like home. I was here the longest, and I really loved living here. It was a place that was easygoing – nice people, good people in the organization. It’s a little bit sad we couldn’t win more games and win more playoff series when I was here. But you know, it’s just the way it was. Hopefully it’s going to turn and the Jackets are going to be finding the right solutions to become a winning team and a playoff team more often.
“The fan support was phenomenal. I remember the fan base was strong, and I always say the fans knew their hockey. They could understand and they do understand hockey here. There was a history of hockey even before in Columbus and the Ohio area, so the fans understood hockey. The first time, it surprised me, but then I said, ‘Well yeah, they understand their hockey,’ and it’s good to see. The many sellout nights, it was really nice to see. At the beginning, the first two or three years, it was really awesome and we were thankful that there was a full arena every night.
“I think like Kinger said, there were lots of players who were in a similar situation. Some other teams didn’t give them the role they would like to have, so they felt similar. There was a bond that lots of players had the first year and second year, so I could definitely feel that. We had fun. It felt really good. I think there was the right mix from the beginning.
“It is good to be back. I saw lots of guys. It's really good to see. Maybe I should be coming back more often.”
The Goalie: Ron Tugnutt
Tugnutt was a fan favorite from the second he arrived in Columbus in the fall of 2000 and did spoof ads for the team pushing a presidential run in that election year. He had played for six NHL teams when he signed with the Blue Jackets and was looked at to be a mentor and a steadying presence for young netminder Marc Denis. Tugnutt turned in two solid seasons with the Blue Jackets before being traded to Dallas in June 2002.
“It’s amazing how fast we joined as a group. It seemed like everybody was excited to be here. Everyone was excited about the opportunity that they were going to be given. I felt that when I came in here, for the first time, I was going to be a leader, which new for me and exciting for me. To meet with the guys, everybody has the stories – because they all came from other teams, it would be like, ‘What was it like to play in Chicago?’ ‘Well, Chicago was great.’ ‘Oh, yeah, you played with a buddy of mine.’ It was just like that. Within a week, we were all friends. Hockey players, we’re all the same and we just talk about the same stuff, so we immediately became real good friends and close. I think that showed toward the end of the year when we really started building and taking a run at the playoffs.
“I think we had a lot in common. I was a free-agent signing. I had opportunities to maybe sign somewhere else, and the same with Lyle Odelein, but all the other guys were either drafted or traded, so for the most part we weren’t the pick of the team we were coming from. We were the pick now of the Columbus Blue Jackets, so we had that in all of us. I think it just made the transition for us to bond a little bit quicker. I think there were things the team did as well to make sure that we would become closer together as well. I know the golf in the area was always popular with a lot of guys. We got out to do stuff like that. It almost seemed to me when I came here that a team had been here for a long time because it was so well-run and so well-organized. Kudos to them for putting people in place that really made the transition for all those guys and their families to come in really simple.
“I definitely felt it was the right move. I’d been through expansion before and I really liked it in Anaheim. You know when you come here, you’re going to have a little bit of a grace period because it’s so new and fresh, but as the year goes on, you have to win. You want the fans to see that and be excited about that, and I think we did that. I think toward the end, two weeks to go is when we were eliminated and we only had like five games left or something. It was a special group that came together, and I think we were fortunate to have the facilities we had. Everything was first-class here.
“The fans were excited because we were winning. We were achieving something, which was surprising. I think that they didn’t expect us to win. As we started to win in the second half, the fan base, it went from not totally understanding the rules of the game to probably halfway through the year they all totally got what it was. They weren’t cheering for icings anymore. They really liked the fights and stuff, the physical part, the hits. And when we scored, it was complete pandemonium. From my standpoint, if I could make a save and maybe throw a little extra mustard on it or something, they got excited about that, so I personally liked that.
“There’s quite a few guys that are back here living, but I was only here for the two years. I see Jody Shelley and Jean-Luc when I come back. When I was doing some stuff with Hockey Canada, I was in Montreal and got to see Marc Denis. The group we have here today is really cool. I haven’t seen Dave King in more than 20 years, Rusty for 20 years. The guys that are still here, it’s always nice to come back here and see them. I’m making it more regular to come back – once in the summer, once in the winter every year now.”
The Veteran: Kevin Dineen
The Blue Jackets’ original roster included several longtime NHLers whose teams had found them to be expendable at the time, and MacLean was eager to bring some leadership to his squad. Dineen was chosen from Ottawa in the expansion draft and arrived in Columbus for the fourth and final stop in his NHL career. He played the final three years of his 19-year career with the Blue Jackets, suiting up in 129 games for the organization.
“To finally have this opportunity to come and do something like this, this one is a little special for me. My kids were old enough to watch me play here. I was not a young buck. I was 36, I think, when I came here. I definitely had some maturity to me. It’s a great experience not only for myself but my family to be part of the festivities this season.
“I know Ottawa signed me specifically because two teams were going to come in and they were able to expose me the following year. And fortunately I got picked up here by Columbus. I was certainly past my high-end scoring days, and at the end of it I found that our team was made up of – we can talk about compete and all those kind of intangibles that go with it, but you look at an Espen Knutsen, a young Rusty Klesla, David Vyborny, Geoff Sanderson, there was some skill on that team. We played hard, and I think we were embraced by the city. But I think that was a two-way street. I think as players we really fed off the energy that was in this building, and it’s always cool being part of something, right? A brand-new franchise, new building, a fan base just getting used to the game. Maybe they didn’t know all the rules, but I think like any sport, they could tell when a team was really high-end compete, and I think that was certainly our identity.
“It was unique. When we got here, we were all in the hotel right across the street here. Guys had moved into town and we were all saying there for the first couple weeks. We’d practice and we were all going out and looking for places, and we were jelling on the ice at the same time. When you get put in that kind of situation, it’s a little feast or famine. It’s either, we can figure this out (or not). But when you kind of come together, our record spoke for itself. We were in the 70s in points, and that’s pretty admirable for a bunch of guys that were thrown together and just came out and played the game hard.
“I would love to see success here. To me, it’s always about the people. I do cheer for the teams and organizations I’ve worked and coached for and played with. But to me – Dean Evason is an ex-teammate of mine. We were both in Binghamton together as kids. We had a split franchise with Washington and Hartford. He was on the Washington side and ended up getting traded to Hartford, so we ended up playing six years together. He's such a sincere individual, so that’s what I cheer for. I grew up with Dante Fabbro’s dad. I was coaching in Florida when Erik Gudbranson was a rookie. I coached Isac Lundeström in San Diego, and I played with Mike Sillinger. You think of Silly and you laugh. The connections in hockey, they’re all so tight. It’s so cool that some of the guys I’ve played with, I’ve even coached some of their sons and been around them. To me, it’s all about relationships. We’ve all been very fortunate to be part of this game.
“The enjoyment of the weekend is to spend some time with the guys. It’s been a while. Tugger was our go-to guy at that time in net, and Rusty was an 18-year-old kid. I was twice his age, right? To watch him come in as a maturing young man and turn into a father now coaching his kids and those kinds of things, this is what the enjoyment is all about for me.”
