With the Blue Jackets getting picked apart again last night, I have to wonder: does this team have an existential crisis? Actually, more to the point: are they really good enough? This is a round-about way of stating the obvious. This team has no identity.
Seriously, can anyone tell me what this team's offensive scheme is? To me, it seems like they spend too much time defending, then can't wait to send the puck far into the corner for a line change. That's not a recipe for success.
The results speak for themselves. This team has one regulation win in eight games to start the year, and many of their losses have been of the blowout variety.
Self inflicted chaos.
For the third time in less than three weeks, the Blue Jackets are headed for an extended rest period. Unfortunately, each time they run into one of these little breaks, they stumble into it like a team that can't do anything right. Worse, it always seems to happen at home, in front of their loyal fans.
It started with a sleepy 4-1 loss to the Utah Mammoth, leading to head coach Rick Bowness blasting his team publicly. They had 5 days to practice, before coming out and playing arguably their best game of the season, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in a shootout.
That was followed up by two very uninspiring losses, the latter being a 7-3 ground-pound from the Florida Panthers that led into (you guessed it)... Rick Bowness blasting his team ahead of a long break. That one was only 3 days, and the team responded by again playing (arguably) their best game of the season, a 1-0 overtime win against the Rangers.
That win seems like a distant memory, because their trend has continued. Since that exciting Friday night, the Jackets are 0-2-0, having been outscored 8-3 in the process; including that brutal 6-2 loss on home ice last night. A loss that leads them into another three day break.
Hey, good news, Bones says the culture is fine now...
Head coach Rick Bowness says after the game that culture is no longer the issue.
— Ed Francis (@EdFrancisCBJ) October 21, 2026
Also says to expect power play changes for the next game (Saturday against Vegas). #CBJ pic.twitter.com/scaUGmdSHV
The Jackets once again have plenty of time to prep for their next game, which comes against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday for the last home game of October. And boy, do we hope they can take full advantage of this practice time; because after that they head out on the road to face Philadelphia, Carolina, and Dallas over a 5-day stretch.
I have my doubts. I'm not sure this roster is really built to do what GM Don Waddell thinks it's built to do. The first three weeks of the season have made that somewhat evident, and until proven otherwise, it's time to really start questioning what direction this team is taking. Lets talk about where the issues lie on the next slide.
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