It seems like the Columbus Blue Jackets are hearing the complaints from their fans. This season was not good enough for anybody who watched the team on a regular basis, and today the repercussions continued as the organization continues to look for a winning formula.
Out the door are assistant coaches Scott Ford and Mike Haviland; along with video coach Aron Augustitus. All of this makes perfect sense, when you really start to dig into the situation in Columbus.
After firing head coach Dean Evason in January, it felt like only a matter of time before GM Don Waddell cleaned up the rest of the bench. Both Ford and Haviland were hired on August 8th, 2024-just a few weeks after the team appointed Evason as head coach.
Haviland had been serving as an assistant coach with the Cleveland Monsters in the previous two seasons. He had previously served as an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks in their early hey-day, from 2008 into 2012. Then, he was head coach at the NCAA level for 8 years before heading to Cleveland.
Meanwhile, Ford was a long-serving assistant coach of the Milwaukee Admirals prior to being brought on to work with Evason. As this situation shows: it's not uncommon for head coaches to come in and choose their own assistants. That's likely what Rick Bowness is being allowed to do here.
Culture change and special teams help on the way?
When the Blue Jackets fired Evason in January, they also sent long-serving assistant coach Steve McCarthy out the door with him. In hiring Bowness, it's easy to see what the target areas of improvement were: culture, and defensive zone play.
Bowness talked about changing the culture after the season ended, and that continues to be a work in progress. Sometimes, clearing out the old good guys and bringing fresh voices into the room can help. New approach, new mindset. New culture.
The other areas where Bowness mentioned that this team has a really hard time? Special teams. Haviland and Ford definitely had their fingerprints all over those power-play and penalty kill units. For a team that could be so good at 5 on 5, they struggled on both sides of the special teams battle. It's obvious that something wasn't working here.
As the saying goes, it's a lot easier to fire the coach than it is to find new players. It stinks for a couple of guys who did their best to help this team, but in the end, it's part of the job. By making this change early in the summer, the Blue Jackets allow them each a chance to find work elsewhere.
And, they get a jump start on searching for new assistants to help change the plight of this team as they look to move forward. Maybe Bowness and Waddell have something up their sleeves already.
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