COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets have fired the team’s general manager, Jarmo Kekalainen, according to a post on the team’s website.

The news was announced by John Davidson, the president of hockey operations and alternate governor, who will take the reins alongside the operations management team until a replacement is chosen.

“This is one of the hardest days I have had in my career as Jarmo is a friend, someone I have a great deal of respect for and someone who has done a lot of good things during his time here,” Davidson said in the post.  “While the future of our club is bright, our performance has not been good enough and it is time for a fresh perspective as we move forward.”

Kekalainen had been the team’s general manager for the past 11 years, since 2013. The post notes that this was the longest tenure in the the franchise’s history.

“On behalf of our ownership group, I’d like to thank Jarmo for his hard work and commitment over the past 11 years,” said John McConnell, Blue Jackets majority owner and governor, in the post.  “He and Tina, and their daughters, are special people who will always be a part of our Blue Jackets family and I wish them the very best in the next chapter of their lives.”

Mike Priest, the team's president, defended the owners' involvement and timing at a press conference with Davidson.

“You could pick a number of different reasons: You don’t want to put him in a bad position for trade deadline where he can’t do his job,” he said. “Those are issues that you can come to. You can debate whether it’s a good time of year or not, but when decisions are made and respect to the people, then we’re going to make that decision and we’re going to be honest about it.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.