Blue Jackets Surge Under Bowness, Turning Playoff Hopes from Pipe Dream to Possibility
Let’s rewind to January 12. At that point, the Columbus Blue Jackets were clinging to the edge of relevance in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
They’d just clawed their way back to a .500 record with an overtime win in Utah, sitting at 19-19-7. But the numbers painted a bleak picture: dead last in the East, and on pace for just 82 points - a full 15 points behind the 97-point pace being set by the Flyers and Sabres, who held the final Metro and Wild Card spots.
To make matters worse, the Jackets had already played 45 games - one more than both Philly and Buffalo. The math wasn’t kind. The gap wasn’t just wide; it was growing.
That same afternoon, the Blue Jackets made a move that would change everything: they fired Dean Evason and brought in veteran bench boss Rick Bowness.
Since then, Columbus has looked like a different team.
The Bowness Bump
The turnaround was immediate. The Blue Jackets rattled off three straight wins under Bowness to open his tenure.
Even with a 4-1 stumble at home against Ottawa on January 20, they didn’t lose momentum. If anything, they doubled down.
At that point, Columbus had improved to 22-20-7, but the standings didn’t reflect the full story. They were still eight points out of third in the Metro and seven points back of a Wild Card spot. On paper, not much had changed.
But dig a little deeper, and you see the shift. The Blue Jackets now had a game in hand on both the Islanders and Bruins - flipping the earlier disadvantage.
That alone shaved down their projected point deficit from 14.9 to 11.5 for a Metro spot, and to 9.8 for a Wild Card. The gap was still there, but it was shrinking fast.
Statement Wins Spark Momentum
Then came a three-game heater that turned that glimmer of hope into something real. Columbus took down the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning - two of the league’s elite - and followed it up with a crucial win over the Philadelphia Flyers, a direct divisional rival.
By January 30, the Jackets had climbed to 25-20-7. Their point pace had jumped from 82.0 to 89.8 in less than two weeks. That’s not just improvement - that’s a team flipping the script midseason.
Still, the teams ahead of them weren’t exactly cooperating. The Islanders and Bruins both raised their own point paces, meaning the Jackets were still projected to fall about nine points short of a playoff berth. Progress, yes - but not enough.
Then Came the Weekend
Enter this past weekend, and things started breaking just right for Columbus.
The Blue Jackets swept a tough road back-to-back. That alone is a feat. But they also got some help on the out-of-town scoreboard: the Islanders lost at home to Nashville, while Buffalo and Boston combined for just one point out of a possible four.
Suddenly, the standings looked a lot more favorable.
As of February 2, the Blue Jackets sit at 27-20-7, with 61 points and a .565 point percentage. That puts them on pace for 92.6 points - their highest projected finish since early December.
They’ve picked up 18 of a possible 20 points in their last 10 games. That’s not just hot - that’s playoff-caliber hockey.
And here’s the kicker: the current third-place point pace in the Metro is 96.9. That’s the lowest it’s been since the calendar flipped to 2026.
Closing the Gap - Fast
Let’s put this in perspective. When Bowness took over, the Blue Jackets were on pace to miss the playoffs by nearly 15 points.
Now? That gap is down to 4.3.
In just nine games, they’ve closed 71% of that distance.
They’ve gained:
- 1 point on the Penguins
- 6 points on the Devils
- 8 points on the Islanders
- 9 points on the Capitals
- 12 points on the Flyers
That’s not just a surge - that’s a team blowing past traffic in the standings.
What’s Next?
There’s a very real scenario where Columbus enters the Olympic break in third place in the Metro. If they win both of their games this week and the Islanders drop both of theirs in regulation, both teams would be tied at 65 points - but the Jackets would hold a game in hand. The Capitals could be in the mix too, but Columbus would have two games in hand on them.
Even if that exact scenario doesn’t play out, the message is clear: this team is back in the race, and fast.
With the Wild Card bar now sitting over 100 points, the clearest path to the postseason is through the Metro - not around it. And with the way things are trending, it’s not out of the question.
The Blue Jackets were on life support less than a month ago. Now?
They’re alive, kicking, and climbing. And if this trajectory holds, we could be looking at one of the most improbable playoff pushes in recent memory.
Buckle up, Columbus. This ride’s just getting started.