 After the first five games , all losses , Jeff Carter suffered a broken foot that kept him out of the line @-@ up for 10 games . While Carter was injured , the Blue Jackets continued to lose games . In the eighth game of the year , they had a chance to end the losing streak against the Ottawa Senators . Columbus held a 3 – 2 lead with under a minute to play . Jason <unk> tied the game on a late power play , and with just 4 @.@ 7 seconds remaining , Milan <unk> notched the winning goal for the Senators . The loss helped set a franchise record for <unk> with a 0 – 7 – 1 record to start a season . [ note 1 ] The losing streak came to an end three days later with a win over the Detroit Red Wings . During the game , several milestones were reached . James Wisniewski made his Columbus debut , Ryan Johansen and John Moore scored their first career NHL goals and Grant <unk> had a career @-@ high three assists . Columbus was unable to create any momentum from the win , however , and continued to struggle , culminating in a 2 – 12 – 1 record , which was the worst start to an NHL season for any team in 19 years . With the team struggling , management attempted to " shake things up " by making some roster moves . The first move was the acquisition of center Mark <unk> from the Pittsburgh Penguins . Next , they traded defenseman Kris Russell to the St. Louis Blues for Nikita <unk> . As the clubs slow start continued , there were rumors that Head Coach Scott Arniel would be fired and replaced with Ken Hitchcock . Hitchcock had previously coached the Blue Jackets to their only playoff appearance in club history and was still under contract with the franchise through to the end of the season . Before any of these rumors came to fruition , the St. Louis Blues asked Columbus for permission to hire Hitchcock , which the Blue Jackets allowed . Hitchcock began his Blues coaching career with a 6 – 1 – 2 record in his first nine games , while Columbus amassed a 6 – 13 – 3 record to start the season . 
