Ken Hitchcock has had plenty of rest since being a part of Canada’s gold medal-winning management team at the Winter Olympics. Now he’s ready to go back to work, perhaps with the very NHL team that fired him.
Just prior to the start of the 2010 Olympics, Hitchcock was dumped by the Columbus Blue Jackets and replaced by assistant Claude Noel. But with no immediate offers elsewhere in the NHL, Hitchcock may return to the Blue Jackets as a senior advisor, a potentially good move for both sides since Hitchcock is still under contract to Columbus for two more years.
“I’ll move to the back of the bus and I’ll wait my turn (for a coaching position),” Hitchcock said. “Columbus has offered me a senior advisor position and I don’t even know what it is yet.”
Hitchcock said he will mull over his immediate future and is most anxious to get back to work.
“The Olympic thing was a real high for me. I’ve never been on a staff that got along so well. It was unbelievable,” said the coach who led the Dallas Stars to the 1999 Stanley Cup championship. “But I’ve had lots of time to relax. I’m rested. I’ll just have to wait and see what transpires.”
