The Blue Jackets are bringing Trent Vogelhuber upstairs.
Columbus has officially promoted the head coach of the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters to an assistant coaching job on Rick Bowness’ NHL staff, a move The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline had already reported back in May. Portzline also said Vogelhuber “will work extensively with the Blue Jackets’ penalty kill” next season, and that’s where the assignment gets real. Columbus finished fifth-worst in the NHL on the penalty kill last season at 76 percent, and the year before that they were tenth-worst at 77 percent.
That kind of special-teams mess doesn’t get cleaned up overnight. The Blue Jackets haven’t had an above-average penalty kill since 2019-20, and the numbers have lived in the basement through multiple seasons and multiple coaching staffs. Vogelhuber’s first big NHL job is pretty clear: help drag that unit out of the mud.
For Vogelhuber, the promotion is also a homegrown story. He’s a Dublin, Ohio native who grew up in Central Ohio and played four years at Miami University.
His playing career ended early because of injuries in 2017-18, but not before he won a Calder Cup with the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters, in 2015-16. That team also featured Josh Anderson, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Anton Forsberg, Joonas Korpisalo and Zach Werenski.
Werenski was just getting his pro career started then, after two seasons with the Michigan Wolverines. His Calder Cup run with the Monsters produced 14 points in 17 games, and it turned out to be the only AHL time he needed before becoming an NHL regular.
Now Vogelhuber gets the chance to coach him. Werenski, who has popped up in trade rumors after becoming one of the league’s top defensemen, won the 2026 Norris Trophy and has grown into a do-everything No. 1 blue-liner. He could wind up as part of Vogelhuber’s penalty-kill group.
Vogelhuber’s own playing days were winding down while Werenski’s career was taking off. He appeared in just 15 games the next season, and 2017-18 was his last year as a player. From there, he moved into coaching with the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate in Cleveland as an assistant the following season.
He became Cleveland’s head coach for 2022-23 after Mark Eaves left, and the Monsters went 33-32-7 in his first year. The turnaround came quickly after that. Cleveland finished 40-24-8 the next season and pushed all the way to a tight seven-game Eastern Conference Final before losing to the eventual champion Hershey Bears, with the deciding game going to overtime.
The Monsters stayed in the mix after that, going 35-26-11 in 2024-25 and 37-26-9 in 2025-26. The Calder Cup never came during Vogelhuber’s run as head coach - Cleveland lost in the first round in 2024-25 and fell in dramatic fashion in the decisive game of this year’s North Division Finals - but he kept the team in the playoff picture.
Just as important, he helped send players upward. Under Vogelhuber, Jet Greaves, Denton Mateychuk, Jake Christiansen, Joshua Dunne, Gavin Brindley and Daemon Hunt all developed into NHL players of varying caliber.
With Vogelhuber moving on, veteran minor-pro coach Nick Bootland takes over in Cleveland. Bootland spent the last four seasons as an assistant with the Hershey Bears, where he won two Calder Cup championships, and before that he spent 13 seasons with the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings as head coach and Director of Hockey Operations.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Suddenly Face The Core Shakeup Bowness Never Saw Coming
Rick Bowness didnt sound like a coach preparing for a routine offseason when he addressed the state of his Blue Jackets roster. The surprise came from the timing as much as the news itself, because he said the teams end-of-year meetings had wrapped with everyone on good terms before the situation shifted. For Columbus, it is a reminder that the front office and coaching staff may be staring at a very different core when next season opens.
Bowness has kept himself at arms length from the contract and trade conversations, saying he will coach the players who are in camp and leave the personnel side to Don Waddell and Judd Moldaver. Even so, the uncertainty hanging over major pieces of the roster is impossible to ignore, especially when it touches players the organization has leaned on as part of its longer-term plan. The next few months will tell whether this becomes a temporary disturbance or the start of a far bigger reset. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Face A Free Agency Crossroads That Could Reshape This Roster
The Hurricanes head into free agency with $11.105 million in cap space and most of last seasons roster already accounted for, but the real pressure point may be on the blue line. Restricted free agent Alexander Nikishin emerged as a major part of Carolinas plans as a rookie, and general manager Eric Tulsky has already made clear how important he is to the team, even if the exact contract path is still being sorted out.
Beyond Nikishin, Carolina is also weighing the rest of the market for ways to strengthen its lineup, with unrestricted free agent Mason Marchment among the names tied to the team. The fit is obvious enough: a club with a mostly set core still has room to add, but the way it balances a key young defenseman against outside help could determine whether this summer is about fine-tuning or something closer to a roster reset. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Face Another Huge Decision On Elvis And Kent Johnson
The Blue Jackets are again staring at a roster decision that goes beyond simple asset management, with Aaron Portzline pointing to Kent Johnson as the kind of player Columbus is reluctant to move because of his skill and upside. That hesitation says as much about where the franchise is trying to go as any move on the table, since the front office is still weighing whether its next step should be built around young talent it believes in or around a cleaner reset elsewhere on the roster.
Elvis Merzlikins sits in a different category, but one that may be just as important for what Columbus wants next. The goalie situation has been a lingering issue, and the discussion around it is tied to a broader push to reshape the room and the teams culture before next season. Whether the Blue Jackets choose to make one of those changes, or hold on longer than expected, will say plenty about how aggressively they plan to alter the look and feel of this group. [Read more 🡒]