Rick Bowness didn’t sound like a coach trying to smooth over a mess. He sounded like a man who had just found out the ground had shifted under him.
The Blue Jackets coach said he was blindsided by the news that Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko have told Columbus they do not want to stay beyond their current contracts. Bowness was in town to take in the start of development camp and speak about the addition of assistant coach Trent Vogelhuber, but the conversation quickly turned to the two players at the center of the latest uncertainty around the club.
General manager Don Waddell is already taking calls on Werenski, whose contract runs through the 2027-28 season. Marchenko, a restricted free agent after the 2026-27 season, is less urgent on paper. Still, the possibility that one or both could be moved before next season starts is now very much on the table.
That was not the script Bowness had in mind when the regular season ended in mid-April.
“I’m as shocked as anyone that these came up,” Bowness said. “I mean, at the end of the year meetings, we looked each other in the eye and had great meetings and gave each other a hug leaving, and all that.
“So everything was good. So when all of this broke, I was shocked and caught off-guard like everyone else.”
Waddell moved quickly after the season, extending Bowness’ contract through at least next season and locking up veteran center Charlie Coyle on a six-year, $36 million extension. Bowness made clear that the possibility of losing one of the team’s top players had no impact on whether he wanted to stay.
“That had no bearing,” Bowness said of his decision. “I wanted to come back.
I definitely wanted to come back. I enjoyed my time here.
I love players, I do, and I know we’re going to make some changes to a few things we do, on the ice and off the ice.
“I wouldn’t have changed (my decision) one bit. I wanted to come back. I want to be here.”
He has been in contact with Werenski by text, but not with Marchenko, who spends the offseason in Russia. Bowness said the time difference makes staying in touch more difficult. Even so, he stressed that he is not the one handling the matter.
“It’s gotta be dealt with by the agent (Judd Moldaver) and Don,” Bowness said. “I’m out of it.”
The situation brings back uncomfortable memories for Columbus. The Blue Jackets finished the 2011-12 season with captain Rick Nash still on the roster after he had asked for a trade at the deadline. Seven seasons later, the team kept Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky through the full year even though Panarin had made it clear he would not re-sign and Bobrovsky was seeking a deal that would have made him the NHL’s highest-paid goalie.
In both cases, the room felt off. Star players carry weight, and when everyone knows they want out, the balance changes.
Bowness acknowledged that reality, but he also made it clear he is not planning his coaching calendar around it.
“I’m going to coach whoever is here in September. That’s the way I look at it,’ Bowness said.
“I can adapt to anything. I can.
So, whoever is here, we’ll adjust. I just want to coach the guys who are here, and we’ll worry about that on Sept. 18 when camp opens.”
He also said he hopes the league’s recent run of stars pushing their way to preferred destinations stops soon. He pointed to Matthew Tkachuk moving from Calgary to Florida, Quinn Hughes from Vancouver to Minnesota, Brady Tkachuk from Ottawa to Florida, and said Werenski, Detroit’s Dylan Larkin and Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck now appear to be in line to be traded.
“All these guys that have to be traded, it’s not just us,” Bowness said. “Just go around the league, it’s unreal.
Well, what happens if the team they want to go to doesn’t want them? Right?
That’s a possibility. Or what if they can’t afford (their contracts)?
“That’s what happened in the NBA the last five, six years, guys moving around everywhere. So you kind of hope that doesn’t happen in our league. But that’s totally under something I cannot control.
“It’s a different era. Adapt or die.”
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