Instead of playing meaningful hockey this week, the Columbus Blue Jackets are home for the summer far sooner than any of us hoped. A big part of the blame for that falls on the team's management. At the top of that list is the general manager. But, this team's collapse did not happen from a lack of trying from their front office.
Last summer, GM Don Waddell would have gotten a high passing grade from us. By adding depth and experience to his forward group, he raised the bar for this team and had them seemingly on the right track for the playoffs.
Unfortunately, things did not work out quite as planned. We aren't going to beat a dead horse, so the best way to say it is to just come out and say it: the first half of this season was not good enough.
The Blue Jackets did not sit back and let the season slip away.
Waddell agreed that things were not working, so he did everything within his power to turn it around. He started with a couple of trades. First, he acquired veteran winger Mason Marchment to fill a gaping hole within his top two forward lines. The cost was low, and this trade made sense right away.
It made even more sense when, a few days later, he traded disgruntled forward Egor Chinakhov to Pittsburgh, recouping (actually upgrading) the pieces he dealt away for Marchment in the first place. We know Chinakhov has taken off in Pittsburgh, and that does sting. But, it was never going to happen here.
The team improved a little bit with these changes, but not nearly enough for anyone's liking. Since this is the NHL and you can't just go out and acquire whatever you need to correct your roster-especially in the season-Waddell slammed his fist on the nuclear button. He fired his head coach.
On January 12th, Dean Evason and assistant coach Steve McCarthy were out the door. In was Rick Bowness. The reward was immediate and very fruitful, as the team rocketed up the standings and threw their hat in the ring as emerging contenders in the Eastern Conference.
Encouraged by their success, Waddell went out at the trade deadline and acquired Conor Garland to further help bolster his offense. Unfortunately, the timing of that trade somewhat coincides with this team plummeting back to Earth.
Was it too much tinkering? We'll probably never know. But, what we do know is that this team fell short of the playoffs for the 6th consecutive season. That has left this fanbase feeling underappreciated and disappointed. Feelings that were echoed by Bowness himself.
Still, it's hard to pin too much of that blame on Waddell. He did everything within his power to get this team back into the fight during the season. If anything, the failure came over last summer, when the team was unable to make any meaningful changes to its blue line. So, we'll settle on a mid-range passing grade here.
2025-26 Blue Jackets management grade: B-
We don't know what other moves might have been out there for Waddell and the Blue Jackets during the season. But, the ones he made seemed to check the right boxes, and this team heads into the summer with a more positive outlook than they may have had with a GM who sat back.
Speaking of this summer, it feels like it's time for Waddell and this organization to put their money where their mouths are. They need to have a big offseason and get this team heading in the right direction. Maybe having stability behind the bench will be a good start.
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