from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch,

Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen returned on Wednesday from the NHL general managers meetings in Toronto.

With all those wheelers and dealers in one room …

“There was good conversation,” Kekalainen said. “It is so hard to make deals in the league right now, but I think you’re going to start to see some movement here soon.”

Kekalainen has been trying to make a trade (or two) for weeks now — he wants to shore up the defense — ever since the Blue Jackets started the season in a tailspin.

When coach Todd Richards was fired after an 0-7-0 start and replaced by John Tortorella, Kekalainen laid off his cellphone only slightly.

“We kept talking — you’re always talking, right? — but I wanted to give John time to evaluate some of our players, get his opinions,” Kekalainen said. “I’m getting some pretty good opinions out of him now.”

continued