Blue Jackets Coach Rick Bowness Calls Out Team Culture in Postgame Tirade – Hockey Writers – Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets played their final game of the 2025-26 regular season. It was a meaningless game in the standings with the Washington Capitals after both teams were eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night.
The Capitals won 2-1 on Tuesday night. But the story of the game was what Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said after the game. He walked into the press conference room as angry as we’ve ever seen him.
Bowness continued to sing to the Blue Jackets about the state of their team’s culture. He first admitted that he has never been a part of something that frustrates them as their tail has been breaking out.
But then he quickly turned to the game and what he saw.
“And you know what? All you have to do is look at the stat sheet,” said an angry Bowness. “Three hits. 23 giveaways. I don’t know if I’m back. But if I’m back, I’m changing this culture. These guys. They don’t care. Losing isn’t important enough to them. It doesn’t bother them. Like, how can you go out and play like that? You should have done this a month ago, but this is why we’re out of the playoffs. Losing, you’ve got to hate losing.”
“I don’t care if it’s a silly game. I don’t care. Show up and compete. Three hits, 23 giveaways. What else do you want to know?”
Bowness was asked where he thought their previous momentum stopped. He pulled no punches this time either.
“Because it’s been hard. Because it’s been hard,” said Bowness. “Like we talked about after the Olympic break, it’s going to be tough. So everything’s going well as long as it’s going the way it is. And now it’s getting tough. We don’t want to fight. Well, that’s what happened the last few weeks. That’s all that happened. We’re going to change that. When I come back, I’m going to go back and I’m not going to know that, Don.” oh man, some of those guys are very lucky the season is over and there’s no practice tomorrow.
Bowness summed up his anger by saying that surprised was not the right word but disappointed was the best way to describe the situation.
“I’m very disappointed,” Bowness continued. “We have a good team and they care about us. So I’m crazy right now. But they care. But they have to show it on the ice. That’s what I told you in North Carolina. Shut up. Let your play do the talking for you, right? I know the game didn’t make sense. I get that. But you still have to play. We’ve talked about it before. Play with some of the best fans, they deserve to be proud and they deserve the fans. They deserve to be proud. love the passion, love the city, there’s a lot of good things going on here.
On what Bowness will do to change the culture when he returns next season:
“There are ways. I’ve been around long enough to know I’ll find ways. I’ve had enough experience. We can deal with this. I’ve dealt with it. When we come back, we’ll guide you.”
With their season over, the Blue Jackets will hold their cleanup day on Wednesday from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM eastern time. Stay tuned with Hockey Writers for more reaction to the Blue Jackets’ season ending that saw them finish their home schedule 0-5-1, one of the worst home streaks in franchise history.
