The Blue Jackets entered the 2025-26 season with a lot of hype and optimism. They had missed the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs by 2 points and had a young core that was growing and developing. Internally, the organization expected to make the playoffs and take a huge step in the development of the roster. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The Blue Jackets fell short of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs by 6 points.
The Blue Jackets did not get off to a spectacular start. Through the first 41 games of the season, the CBJ sat in last place in the Eastern Conference with 43 points. The biggest challenge for the team was holding on to leads. There were countless blown 3rd period leads.
It almost appeared as if the team was only playing 2 periods a game. That is what landed them at the bottom of the standings. The blown lead on January 4th against Pittsburgh (up 4-1 in the 2nd period, losing 5-4 in overtime) was the straw that broke the camel’s back. GM Don Waddell fired Head Coach Dean Evason and hired Rick Bowness to be the interim head coach on January 12th.
The Blue Jackets really turned it around once Bowness took over. Over the first 26 games with Bowness behind the bench, the team went 19-3-4 for 42 points over that stretch. They climbed from 16th in the Eastern Conference to as high as 2nd in the Metropolitan Division. The team was firmly in control of their own destiny: keep winning and the playoffs were a lock.
The season of the collapse
Then, the dam broke. The team went 2-7-1 over the final 10 games and dropped from 2nd in the Metropolitan Division to 11th in the Eastern Conference. With other teams playing well, the CBJ finished outside of the playoff picture. One word describes the disastrous fall: collapse.
Over the course of the entire season, the team had a total of 16 games where, at some point in the game, they had a multi-goal lead (2 goals or more) and ended up losing the game. One word describes the inability to hold on to leads: collapse.
It’s ironic that the season played out like many of the games within the season. They controlled their own destiny (i.e. had a lead in the playoff hunt) and lost it toward the end of the season. The collapses in games resulted in a collapse in the standings. Simple as that.
While a lot needs to be done to fix this team, I, along with many other 5th Liners, hope that Rick Bowness sticks around to be a part of the solution. His passionate post-game press conference after the season finale felt like he was speaking for the 5th Line himself. This team needs to learn how to win. If Bowness gets a chance to change this culture, he won’t allow these collapses to persist.
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