Another healthy scratch for Kent Johnson is concerning, especially with the games looming larger

As the Blue Jackets spent this morning preparing for a huge game against the Montreal Canadiens tonight, one player was noticeably missing from line rushes. After the morning skate, head coach Rick Bowness confirmed our suspicions: Kent Johnson will be held out of the lineup.

Suffice to say, this is pretty concerning. The Blue Jackets have pushed a lot of different buttons in an effort to get their skilled young winger going in the right direction. In fact, they have done just about everything they can, and with little positive result.

Johnson has played in 68 games for the team this season, with only 7 goals and 21 points to his credit. For a guy who scored 24 goals and 57 points last year-in exactly the same number of games-that is just not going to cut it.

He's capable of bringing offense almost on his own, but this season, he has just not found the consistency in doing the things that make him successful. Too often, we are seeing him physically bodied off of the puck. Or worse, he's caught trying to do too much with the puck on his stick.

Either of those situations are resulting in turnovers, rather than goals and assists. It seems that the opposition has found the book on Kent, and he hasn't been able to make any adjustments to his game to open up his bag of tricks again.

All of this comes while the team around him is thriving under their new head coach. Rick Bowness has unlocked more potential from nearly everyone on the roster, except for Kent Johnson.

We saw the "new coach bump" in his game after the switch was made, and for a week or so he looked very dangerous before falling off again. Then, after the team acquired Conor Garland, he had some extra pep in his step again.

But, it shouldn't take major changes within the organization for a guy like this to get going. He should be playing like that all of the time, regardless the circumstances around him. Which begs a big question for me: is the issue something that can even be resolved here? Or, are we looking at another guy who is going to get traded and thrive elsewhere?

Kent needs to bring the hard hat and let the coaching staff help him dial in the rest.

One of the first things Bowness told this group after he was hired: you bring the work ethic, we'll bring the rest. Seems pretty simple, really. But that hasn't yet helped Johnson dial his game in, and that is concerning.

Now, I'm not saying that Kent isn't working hard. We only see him when the cameras are on, and though his game has looked a step off, I can't sufficiently say he's not trying. But, we know there is another gear to his game, and it's one that he has not shifted into often enough to be successful this season.

Hopefully, another stint in the press box will help him reset and focus back on doing the things that made him a prolific scoring threat last year. A lot of that means going to the tougher areas, or buying that extra half second with the puck so a teammate can free up for a scoring chance. Then, it's just execution.

Whatever it takes, this team needs him to get going in one fashion or another. He's an important piece of the future core here, and there aren't exactly a handful of guys lining up that can do the things he does best. The last thing we want to see is Kent Johnson scoring big goals in another uniform. We've seen enough of that lately.