You can never say that the Columbus Blue Jackets aren't an interesting team. On Tuesday, the Blue Jackets' season officially ended after losing 2-1 to the Washington Capitals, which took place a day after they were eliminated from playoff contention. If you thought the season would end quietly, head coach Rick Bowness proved otherwise.
After the game, Bowness ripped into the team, saying that they didn't care about losing and that if he were to be brought back next season, he wants to change the culture. Typing the words don't do it justice, as Bowness was livid while airing his grievances of the team he took over back in January. That left the question what the players' responses would have been.
On Wednesday, players spoke to reporters after their regular season ended and were, obviously asked about Bowness' criticism. Star defenseman Zach Werenski said he understood where Bowness was coming from, but he didn't agree with the notion that the team didn't care about losing games.
Zach Werenski, Boone Jenner take exception to Rick Bowness criticisms after regular season finale
"I'm not trying to go at it with [Bowness] like back and forth," said Werenski. "I have a ton of respect for him and I think he loves us as players. We love him as a coach. I don't agree like that's how guys in there feel. I think guys do hate to lose. I think we need to learn how to win, and I definitely think he can help us with that. He's been around for so long and he's been to finals and he's been to the playoffs a bunch. I think his knowledge of how to get into the playoffs and how we have to play this time of year. We do need to learn that, but I don't think it's right to say that we don't hate to lose and we don't care."
Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner also spoke about Bowness' criticism of the team not caring about losing games. Much like Jenner, he took exception to that notion
"We hate to lose," said Jenner. "It sucks. We got a terrible feeling going through that room right now and it's because we had a lot of belief in each other and what we could do and like I said, we come up short and we take ownership in that as players. We didn't play our game consistently enough. Our habits and work ethic down the stretch, it slipped when it needs to ramp up and now we find ourselves here."
Adam Fantilli was asked what he thought it would take to learn how to win, and said it takes being fed up by what's going on currently.
"I think it takes being in the position that we're in and getting fed up with it and realizing what we're doing to ourselves," said Fantilli, h/t Jeff Svoboda of the Blue Jackets' official website.
The Blue Jackets brought in Bowness in January after firing Dean Evason, hoping he would turn the team around and coach them back into the playoffs. It looked like that was going to happen, as he led the team to third place in the Metropolitan Division on March 19. But the team collapsed after that, losing eight of their final 12 games. Hence why they missed out on the playoffs, as the Philadelphia Flyers clinched third place in the division, while the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators clinched the two Wild Card Spots in the Eastern Conference. Now, they have to figure out what's next and how they can end their playoff drought.
First up, the Blue jackers and Bowness will have to figure out if the two sides want to continue their partnership, and if that's the case, they'll need to give him a new contract.
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