In the span of one week, the entire narrative around the Columbus Blue Jackets has changed. The team has won four games in a row, including a massive one on Saturday; and they are right back in the playoff battle within the Metropolitan Division.
Three of those games have come after making a change behind the bench. But, while the immediate impact is fun; there's a deeper, longer-term impact to this team's plans thanks to the shift to a new head coach. And, it's far more important than a wild card battle after a sluggish first half of the season.
Can Bones salvage the exciting young core?
One thing that became evident under Dean Evason: it was really difficult for young players to earn his trust. In the very first game of the Rick Bowness era, that philosophy changed.
Kent Johnson is easily the best example of that change. He went from playing bottom six minutes (including a season-low 7:41 on December 28th), to leading the entire forward group in ice time in his first game under Bowness.
#CBJ forward Kent Johnson played a season-high 20:55. Rick Bowness: "He deserved those minutes. He’ll keep those minutes as long as he keeps playing like that."
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) January 14, 2026
KJ on the coaching change: "I think it's just a lot of excitement for me. He really grabbed everyone's attention,…
The result has been very, very noticeable. KJ went from struggling to do anything with the puck, to looking at lot more like the confident player who scored 57 points in 68 games last season.
Since Bowness took over, he's averaged around 19 minutes per game, scoring 2 points and registering 7 shots on goal. Though his line struggled a bit in Pittsburgh on Saturday, he posted a CORSI rating of 69.4%, 64.9% in his first two games, along with an xGF% of almost 80%.
Not to be overlooked here is Adam Fantilli, who has posted similar numbers but seems snake bitten if anything. He's had 12 shots on goal since Bowness was hired, and it feels like only a matter of time before he breaks out.
Out of all of this, maybe the most exciting player to see under the new coach is Denton Mateychuk. Bowness has a long history of helping talented young defensemen reach elite levels, which is exactly what this team needs.
Overall, this is a rejuvenated group that is still being led by their veterans-but, it's hard to overlook the way the young players have stepped up their games. Ultimately, it feels like the struggling youngsters is what was holding this team back; and it's probably what cost Dean Evason his job.
Evason's approach soured this team.
At some point over the last month, Evason's approach was lost in the locker room. This team wasn't playing with any confidence, and I would honestly argue that they weren't even pushing back in the last 3-4 games under his guidance.
We will likely never know the reason this happened. But, it's hard not to wonder if this had something to do with his stubborn approach to players like Johnson, Fantilli, and the other young players in the organization.
These former high draft picks are the pieces that need to succeed for this team to reach the level of Stanley Cup contender. If they aren't producing-or in Johnson's case, being lost in the shuffle completely-it's not good for this team.
Not only were they not continuing to develop, it seemed like they were regressing. That's an alarming trend for a team that went through a full rebuild to get this kind of talent.
The reality here is, by promoting low event players into his top-six, Evason neutered this team's creativity. Would anyone be surprised if that's what lost the locker room?
Shame they couldn't save these guys.
There were two players dealt away by this team, that I feel like would have really benefitted from a different approach. The most recent case is Egor Chinakhov, who was dealt to Pittsburgh a few weeks ago after another trade request.
He's made an immediate impact with the Penguins, which we saw firsthand on Saturday night. He was on Evgeni Malkin's wing, and scored their lone goal in the shootout.
The other guy I'm thinking about: David Jiricek. His development hasn't gone as planned (even since the trade to Minnesota), but I have to wonder if a defense whisperer like Bowness could have gotten him to reach more of his potential.
We will never know. Hopefully, Don Waddell made this switch quickly enough to salvage a playoff run for this team this season. But, more importantly, it feels like this switch is helping his young stars get back to doing the things that made them high draft picks in the first place. That should be the long-term goal.