As the 2025-26 season comes to a close for the Blue Jackets, and another year goes by with no playoff hockey in Columbus, it’s hard not to wonder what has gone wrong with the organization over the past few years.
Many are quick to call out the front office, the players themselves, or the ownership for not caring enough about the fans and the city to build up a team worthy of making a run deep into the playoffs.
However, I don’t think that is the case; actually, quite the opposite. Despite the high expectations after a similar near-miss last season, I think that the Blue Jackets ended the rebuild before it was truly finished.
The Blue Jackets got greedy
Before I continue on, I do want to point out that Blue Jackets fans are not in the wrong for demanding way more success than they have gotten. Only one playoff series win (although an exceptionally memorable one) is simply not enough. And no, the qualifying round victory in the modified 2020 postseason doesn’t count.
After these two seasons, the Blue Jackets determined that a rebuild was in store. This led to a few painful seasons for Columbus, but fans have seen the team begin to turn the corner over the last couple years.
After crushing expectations during the 2024-25 season, finishing with a 40-33-9 record and coming so close to the playoffs, there was a lot of optimism pouring into the organization.
We saw what we thought was a solidified head coaching situation after some clear misses, along with standout performances from key players. Guys like Sean Monahan, Dante Fabbro, Denton Mateychuk, Kent Johnson, and Jet Greaves (among others) played great hockey early in their Blue Jackets careers.
The Blue Jackets front office didn’t hesitate to go out and bring in solid veterans to round out this group of shining youngsters in an attempt to cruise into the playoffs. Charlie Coyle, Miles Wood, and Isac Lundestrom were acquired in hopes of being the glue to a somewhat shaky forward group.
Then, they acquired two more notable forwards: Mason Marchment and Conor Garland, bringing more offense to the group up front.
It was clear that the expectation was to win this season, and that may have been their downfall. On paper, this team should have made the playoffs. Adding five skilled, veteran forwards to a team that should only be improving with a young core coming off a solid season should be enough.
However, some of the great things that inspired this investment weren’t as solidified as we thought. Players like Kent Johnson, Sean Monahan, and Dmitri Voronkov all took a step back this year, and it hurt the team.
Looking at Johnson and Voronkov, they combined for 104 points last year while only being 22 and 24, respectively. I think I speak for all Jackets fans when I say that them combining for around half that total (54 points) was not what we expected.
After not seeing results for 25 years, the Blue Jackets got greedy and tried to capitalize on something they didn’t have: star scoring forwards. Instead of waiting to see if these players would continue their positive trajectories, Columbus expected them to.
Again, it’s hard to blame this franchise for wanting to win. But when it’s not done right and stops before it even started, what were the past three seasons of mediocre for? It’s impossible to go back in time, but let’s look at what went wrong over the past couple years.
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