Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, assistant general manager Bill Zito, and president of hockey operations John Davidson have each signed two-year contract extensions through the 2018-19 season, reports Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch.

Davidson joined the team in October 2012 and hired Kekalainen four months later.

The Blue Jackets have made the playoffs once since the duo took over, a first-round loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014.

Though the team has been unable to build off that postseason appearance, finishing 11th and 15th in the Eastern Conference in the two seasons since, Columbus, slowly but surely, appears to be trending upward.

"This (extension) gives us an opportunity to keep doing what we’ve been trying to build," Kekalainen said. "It’s a process that will take its time, but we’re on our way."

The Blue Jackets' AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie (now Cleveland) Monsters, won the Calder Cup, and the club added 2016 third overall pick Pierre-Luc Dubois to a promising group of prospects.

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