It’s rare that you hear an NHL coach say a player is being scratched because they need to produce more offensively, especially a coach with Rick Bowness’ tenure.
More Blue Jackets news: Squandered scoring chances keep biting Columbus Blue Jackets
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Usually, it’s a lack of defensive awareness that does it. That’s not the case with Kent Johnson, whom Bowness sat as a healthy scratch Feb. 28 when the Jackets lost 4-3 in overtime to the New York Islanders. Johnson’s skill would’ve been handy in 3-on-3 OT, but his ongoing struggle to create time and space for himself during other situations is largely why he sat.
Blue Jackets center Kent Johnson (91) passes over Blackhawks defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (48) on Feb. 4.
It’s also why Johnson might sit March 2 against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden to open a back-to-back that concludes March 3 against the Nashville Predators at Nationwide Arena.
“Listen, he’s a big part of the future of the team,” Bowness said. “This isn’t, ‘We’re going to sit you out for the next month.’ This is ‘take a look at the game.’ Sometimes there’s a little more room out there than you realize when you’re on the ice, with the pace of the game. ‘We’re not down on you. We’ve just got to make some changes.’”
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Johnson, who has six goals and 12 assists for 18 points, has seen a drop in production that’s striking, given what he did last season. He’s gone from resembling a developing version of Vegas Golden Knights star Mitch Marner to a forward who gets erased too often and can’t drive play like he did a year ago.
It’s baffling.
Blue Jackets center Kent Johnson has just six goals and 12 assists this season.
Despite battling through an early shoulder injury, Johnson put up career-highs last season with 24 goals, 33 assists and 57 points in 68 games. It resembled his rookie year (2022-23), when Johnson contributed a solid 16-24-40 in 79 games.
What he’s going through now looks more like his second NHL season, when he produced career lows with 6-10-16 in 42 games and struggled through a slow start that led to an AHL assignment. Bowness, hired Jan. 12 to replace Dean Evason, needs to see less of that Johnson and more of the guy whose elite skills as a freshman at the University of Michigan enticed the Blue Jackets to select him fifth overall in 2021.
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That’s the crux of what the veteran coach told Johnson about his decision to skate Danton Heinen at right wing on Sean Monahan’s line. Dmitri Voronkov also moved off Monahan’s line, heading to the fourth line in a flip-flop with captain Boone Jenner. Johnson’s wiry frame and playing style left him without a matching role.
“I want to be an offensive guy,” Blue Jackets center Kent Johnson said. “That’s why I was drafted.”
He’s a highly skilled forward in the mold of Marner or Patrick Kane, and the Blue Jackets need him to play like it down the stretch. That’s his goal.
“I want to be an offensive guy,” Johnson said. “That’s why I was drafted. I know [Bowness] talked about the goal scoring and shooting, and he watched my goals … I was also drafted to be a playmaker, so I want to be a dual threat and set my linemates up a lot. So, I think it’s good. I should be focused on offense. That’s obviously what I want too.”
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Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness hopes to spark Kent Johnson