The 2025-26 NHL season wrapped up its final games last night. By the time the dust settled, the Blue Jackets finished 7 points out of a playoff spot. The disappointing thing is that this year, it felt like the team was assembled to be so much better. Unfortunately, they came up way short.
This year, unlike recent seasons, it feels like it's more on the players than anyone else. Last season's iteration of the CBJ managed to finish just two points out of the final wild card spot in the East, posting a 40-33-9 record (89 points).
They were the talk of the league, because they battled and earned respect. Despite unthinkable tragedy before training camp, they banded together and stayed in the fight right up until the last day of the regular season.
Then, this season happened.
The Jackets loaded up a few more veterans to fill out their bottom-six. With most of the crew returning from last year's upstart team, we hoped they would take a bigger step this year. It felt like playoffs or bust in Central Ohio, but the team disappointed the 5th Line at nearly every turn.
A slow start, a rocky middle, a hot streak, and a cliff dive.
Things never really looked good at the beginning of the season. The team slept through the preseason, which is generally no reason to panic. But they slept through the first part of the regular season as well, and that was worrisome. Signs of trouble were early and often.
The Jackets lost 3 of 4 to start the year. Many of us were quick to point out their gauntlet of a schedule, and seemed to be rewarded with our patience as the team won 6 of their next 7 games.
But through the rest of November and December, the only consistency was inconsistency. The Jackets went 10-12-6 through that part of the season. We were disappointed, but little did we know: rock bottom was still around the corner.
They won a big game against the Buffalo Sabres on January 3rd, which gave us hope that they were turning things around. The Sabres were one of the hottest teams in the league at that point, and the Jackets walked all over them in a 5-1 win.
Then came that fateful game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The very next night, the Jackets stormed out to a 4-1 lead, looking very confident in the process. We'll never know what happened with this group on that night, but the outcome is the story.
The Penguins battled back and tied the game with just 14 seconds remaining. Then, they won it in overtime, with the shell-shocked Jackets unable to find an answer for the Pittsburgh onslaught.
Behind the scenes, GM Don Waddell felt the same things we were feeling: this team was not playing up to their potential. As the Jackets went out West and lost 3 of 4 on the road, Don got to work making some big changes. Out were Dean Evason and Steve McCarthy. In was Rick Bowness.
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