Blue Jackets Head Coach Slams His 'Embarrassing' Hockey Team
The Columbus Blue Jackets are a mess, and head coach Rick Bowness is once again fed up.
“You have to hope, you got to believe that performance tonight will embarrass them enough to stop this, right?” Bowness told reporters after the game, according to The Hockey Writers’ Mark Scheig. “Because if they’re not embarrassed by that, we don’t want them on the team. It’s as simple as that.”
The fiery bench boss didn't mince any words after his team lost 7-3 to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. The Blue Jackets were absolutely dominated throughout the entire game, which included a natural hat-trick from Brady Tkachuk. Bowness spoke after the game and ripped his team into shreds.
Rick Bowness didn't hold back on his Blue Jackets after getting skunked by the Panthers 😳 (H/T @mark_scheig) https://t.co/5FAYgXAS4q
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 14, 2026
The crazy part is the Blue Jackets led 1-0 after a goal from Kent Johnston, but then the wheels fell off, and the Tkachuk brothers, and their Panthers teammates took over. Brady scored the hatty, while his brother Matthew ended the night with five apples.
Bowness hasn't been very happy on Columbus for quite some time now, and called his team out previously for having a culture issue. The team then moved Kirill Marchenko to Toronto for Matthew Knies, while also ridding themselves of disgruntled goaltender Elvis Merzlikins.
We'll have to wait and see how this all shakes out, but if the Blue Jackets continue to struggle, more roster changes will be on the way.