Rick Bowness has wasted no time making his displeasure known, and the Columbus Blue Jackets are hearing it loud and clear.
Eight games into the 2026-27 season, Columbus sits at 3-5-0 with the fewest points in the Eastern Conference, and the tone from the bench has already turned sharp. Bowness has been pointing to the early mistakes and the string of disappointing results, even though the schedule is still in its infancy and the league’s expanded 84-game slate leaves plenty of runway.
It’s a notable shift for a team that already dealt with its coach coming down hard last season, when the Blue Jackets fell short of the Stanley Cup Playoffs despite a second-half push that at least kept a Wild Card berth within reach.
On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton raised the question that naturally follows: is Bowness pushing too hard, too soon?
Yaremchuk didn’t sound convinced this is the right time for the hammer to keep falling.
“I’m sitting here, I’m going like, ‘Man, you’re only eight games into the year. The season’s not lost for you to be kind of going and pulling that lever as much as Bowness is. Like, you’re gonna lose that room fast, aren’t you?
Hutton agreed, and he leaned on his own experiences to explain why constant criticism can wear thin inside a locker room.
“100% right? This is like I always felt like in my own hockey experiences…you’re talking about guys that are making millions of dollars that have leverage to get moved and do whatever.
It starts to fall on deaf ears. Like, you can’t just go beating the drum.
I think you have to play your cards correctly. It feels like, right now, Bones is just doing it way too often for me.
He added that there’s a real danger in overdoing it.
“I’ve had coaches that would do this every period. I had a general manager.
I remember I was in the American League. I’m sitting on the bus eating cold pizza.
We just got our asses kicked, and he’s yelling at you every single time, and we won the night before…you got to pick your spots, man. I feel like right now it feels like it’s just piling and piling on, and it’s a good way to kind of lose the core that you have.”
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Suddenly Face A Real Dmitri Voronkov Trade Decision
Dmitri Voronkov has suddenly become one of the more intriguing names on the Blue Jackets radar as trade chatter starts to pick up around the young forward. Columbus has apparently drawn interest from other teams, and the timing is notable because Voronkov is expected to be out of the lineup for Saturdays game, which only adds to the sense that something could be shifting behind the scenes.
One floated scenario has the Blue Jackets sending Voronkov to Calgary, a move that would bring back Connor Zary and a draft pick in return. For Columbus, a deal like that would be about balancing present value with future flexibility, while the Flames would be betting on Voronkovs size and upside. For now, it remains the kind of possibility that can reshape a roster conversation before the front office has made anything public. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets May Need A Roster Jolt Sooner Than Expected
The Blue Jackets have been searching for more consistent offense this season, and outside of one reliable line, the scoring has been too uneven for comfort. With the club already juggling healthy scratches and trying to squeeze more competition out of the lineup, the picture in Columbus is starting to look like one that may need a roster jolt sooner rather than later.
There are options building in Cleveland if the front office decides the answer is below the NHL level. Steven Lorentz has been productive there, and Jack Williams, Luca Pinelli, and Mikael Pyyhtia are also pushing for consideration with strong play of their own, giving the Blue Jackets a few different ways to stir things up while they look for better results up top. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Fans Are Getting Called Out For Something NHL Cheers Elsewhere
Kirill Marchenkos return to Nationwide Arena had the kind of edge that usually comes with a player coming back to a building full of familiar faces. Columbus fans let him hear it, even after he scored, and the reaction was part of the night rather than a side note. It was the sort of hometown response that can make a regular-season game feel a little bigger, and it gave the Blue Jackets another reminder that emotions around former players do not always stay neatly in the past.
What stood out afterward was how differently that kind of boos-and-chanting atmosphere has been received elsewhere in the league. Brady Tkachuk drew a louder, more openly confrontational reaction in Ottawa, and the response around that scene was far more approving than the way some people viewed Columbus fans treatment of Marchenko. The contrast says plenty about how NHL crowds are judged depending on the story attached to the player, and it leaves the Blue Jackets tied to a conversation that is bigger than one return game. [Read more 🡒]