Bowness called out his team's culture following their final game of the season on Tuesday, a 2-1 loss to the Washington Capitals.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube understands how Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Rick Bowness feels.
Following the Blue Jackets' final regular season game on Tuesday, a 2-1 loss to the Washington Capitals, Bowness lashed out at his players after what he called a careless performance.
It had been three months since Bowness' hiring in Columbus, and the Blue Jackets have had a 21-11-5 record since, tying them for the fifth-most points in the NHL since Jan. 13.
But after an uptick in play in the first two months following Bowness' hiring, the Blue Jackets fell off a cliff, securing just seven of a possible 26 points in the final 13 games of the season.
The playoffs were a possibility for the Blue Jackets, much like they were for the Maple Leafs coming out of the Olympic break. However, after picking up numerous costly losses, the team's playoff hopes drifted further and further away.
"I don't know if I'm back, but if I'm back, I'm changing this culture," Bowness told reporters in Columbus following their loss on Tuesday.
"These guys, they don't care — losing is not important enough to them. It doesn't bother them. Like, how can you go out and play like that? I should've done this a month ago. But this is why we are where we are. This is why we're out of the playoffs."
Ahead of Toronto's final game of the regular season on Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators, Berube was asked about Bowness' comments and the importance of players having to hate to lose.
"Well, they do," the Maple Leafs' head coach said.
"I think more than anything — and I'm not in (Bowness') head or what he was thinking or whatever — for me it's like, losing has to hurt. It's got to be vocalized in the room by the players. When you're losing and you're not winning, things have to be said in a not-so-nice manner.
"And when that happens in a locker room enough times, things are bound to change. You got to challenge each other, and he's not wrong."
Coming out of the Olympic break, the Maple Leafs were six points out of a playoff spot. They lost their next eight straight in what was one of their longest losing streaks in recent memory.
That ultimately tanked their playoff hopes.
Since the Olympic break ended, the Maple Leafs have held the NHL's worst record of 5-14-5 in 24 games. They've picked up just 15 of a possible 48 points and were outscored 64-99 in that stretch.
We've seen more fight out of the team recently, after Auston Matthews suffered a knee injury at the hands of Anaheim Ducks defender Radko Gudas on Mar. 12. That's in part due to no one standing up to Gudas right away after Toronto's captain went down.
But does what occurred with the Blue Jackets — with Bowness calling out the team's culture — need to happen in Toronto? Is culture something that needs to improve within the Maple Leafs?
"I'm not going to talk about all that," Berube said. "I'm not getting into all that stuff."
Toronto plays its season finale in Ottawa on Wednesday night, then has locker cleanout day on Thursday.