Although the Columbus Blue Jackets [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/columbus-blue-jackets] were eliminated from playoff contention before their final game on Tuesday, coach Rick Bowness still expected his team to be competitive. He wasn't pleased following the Blue Jackets' 2-1 loss to the Washington Capitals [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals] to finish their season. Bowness questioned his team's heart and lack of care. "All you got to do is look at the stat sheet," Bowness told reporters post-game. "Three hits, 23 giveaways. I don't know if I'm back, but if I'm back, I'm changing this culture." Columbus brought in Bowness to replace Dean Evason on Jan. 12 for the rest of the season. Since his hire, Bowness has only led the Blue Jackets behind the bench for 37 outings. In that short time, he propelled his team into the playoff mix at an incredible pace. Bowness wraps up his campaign with Columbus with a 21-11-5 record, the eighth-best team in the NHL in that span. Despite the great record he orchestrated, Columbus hasn't been great to finish off the season, and that didn't go unnoticed by the bench boss. "These guys, they don't care," Bowness said of his players. "Losing is not important to them." In the final 11 games of this season, the Blue Jackets put up a 2-8-1 record – the second-worst run in the league in that span – even though they were sniffing a wild-card spot and third place in the Metropolitan Division. Bowness could sense the dip in his team's play. Back in late March, following a loss to the Boston Bruins, he called his players "selfish," [https://x.com/mark_scheig/status/2038414873328009707?s=20] and said, "they got a lot to learn about how to play in this league at this time of year." To some extent, Bowness referenced the disappointing end to Columbus' regular-season. "This is why we're out of the playoffs," he said. "Losing, you have to hate losing, I don't care if it's a meaningless game." The Blue Jackets failed to qualify for the playoffs for the sixth straight season. "Man oh man, some of those guys are so lucky that season's over, and there's no practice tomorrow," Bowness said. Nearly three years ago, when Bowness coached the Winnipeg Jets, he had a similar tone when reflecting on his team's first-round loss. "Overall thoughts? I'm so disappointed and disgusted right now. That's my thoughts," he told reporters on April 28, 2023 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCxNLvUiKhQ&pp=ygUMcmljayBib3duZXNz]. "No pushback. But it's the same crap we saw in February. As soon as we were challenging for first place, and teams were coming after us, we had no pushback. This series, we had no pushback. Their better players are so much better than ours, it's not even close." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Image [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/ceade378-2d1b-4f5b-9427-fb5dc159b112.jpeg] For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription?_gl=1*fuv41c*_ga*NDAxOTY4NTMuMTc1NTg5NTA0Mg..*_ga_ZET34ZFCGX*czE3NzUzOTUwMzMkbzI5MyRnMSR0MTc3NTQwMjM3NCRqNTIkbDAkaDA.]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
