The Columbus Blue Jackets wasted little time in replacing winger Nikolai Zherdev, whom they deal t to the NY Rangers earlier today.

It was reported Wednesday evening the Jackets had signed former Calgary Flames winger Kristian Huselius to a four-year contract worth $4.75 million per season.

Jackets GM Scott Howson needed to bring in a more experienced winger for his first line and Huselius certainly has that, posting up 77 and 66 points respectively in the last two seasons.

While Huselius has scored more than the departed Zherdev over the last two years he no less an enigma who seems to score more in the first half of the season than in the second, disappears in the playoffs, doesn’t like the rough going nor being leaned on by a demanding coach.

Huselius twice wilted under Mike Keenan’s iron hand in Florida and Calgary and he won’t face any less pressure in the demanding Ken Hitchcock.

Howson is also taking a heck of a risk committing $4.75 million per season to Huselius, considering he only made $1.4 million last season, but in this summer’s wild spending on free agents that’s what it took to get him to Columbus.

TSN and Sportsnet here in Canada are all over this one, folks: Mike Keenan is on the verge of being hired by the Calgary Flames as their new head coach.

It's going to be very interesting to see how this situation plays out for the Flames. It was obvious that they needed a firmer whip hand than Jim Playfair's last season, but it's also obvious that GM Darryl Sutter has no intention of returning behind the bench.

Keenan, known as "Iron Mike" for his hard, no-nonsense approach to coaching, had his best years coaching the Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers from 1984 to 1994, culiminating in his coaching the Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup.

However, Keenan was unable to match that success in St. Louis, Vancouver, Boston and Florida, possibly because he was sidetracked by either management duties or battling with management.

What'll be most interesting will be how the Flames react to Keenan's methods. Some players, like Jeremy Roenick, Joe Thornton and Olli Jokinen, thrived under Keenan and have nothing but kind words to say about him. Others have struggled under his domineering ways and couldn't wait to get away from him.

Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff and Dion Phaneuf are the three big stars on the Flames, so their response to his coaching will be watched closely. Given their temperaments they're likely to respond well to his style.

Others, like Kristian Huselius and Matthew Lombardi, might chafe under Iron Mike's rule.

One thing's for sure, Keenan won't be able to pull off that constant goaltending change during games with "Kipper", unless Sutter brings in a better backup for him. Kiprusoff might not take too well to getting yanked and then re-inserted a couple of minutes later.

There's no question that Keenan is a more than capable coach, but he does come with the reputation of being difficult for general managers to work with.

That being said, however, in Darryl Sutter, he's met his match. The Flames GM is every bit as iron-willed as Keenan, and if Keenan tries to overstep his limits, Sutter will crush him.

Yet this could be a match made in heaven, of a coach and GM with the same mindset working toward similar goals, which could ultimately benefit the Flames. Sutter was an assistant coach for Keenan in Chicago, so they probably won't have any trouble working together now.

For the Flames sake, here's hoping Iron Mike's presence shakes up the Flames in a positive way.