It is often one of the biggest questions a team must answer as it tries to rise up the ranks and become a consistent contender, especially one with as many young players in key roles as the Blue Jackets have. Teams in similar situations like Ottawa and Montreal have solved the puzzle with young teams in recent seasons, while a franchise like Buffalo went through a number of fits and starts before winning the Atlantic Division this year. 

The upcoming offseason will be a pivotal one for the Blue Jackets, who checked off the first order of business Thursday with the announced return of Bowness, who was originally hired in January to try to jumpstart what had been a frustrating campaign. He certainly did so at the start, but his comments underscore what he saw in his team as things reached a crescendo down the stretch. 

It’s a harsh message but one the head coach clearly felt his team needed to hear.  

“It is a message for sure, and it’s a strong message,” Werenski said. “I think we all have to respond to it. It clearly wasn’t good enough down the stretch. If we’re gonna sit here and say part of what he said isn’t the truth, then we’re wrong. We have to be better and we do have to learn. This organization and this fan base does deserve more from us, and they deserve winning hockey.” 

For his part, Bowness said Thursday that he still believes in what he has in Columbus, noting that while he didn’t regret his press conference, he knows the Blue Jackets have a locker room filled with good players and good people. The biggest thing he’ll attack when the team returns in the fall is instilling more of the attitude it needs to have in crunch time. 

“I probably made it sound like there was a bigger issue than it really is,” Bowness said. “You’ve gotta learn how to hate to lose. You have to learn how to win, so you hate to lose. That’s what we’re gonna be working on from the first day of training camp and teaching them, reminding them of, ‘This is what it takes to win. This is the stuff that hurts you, and that’s how you lose.'”

There was plenty of devastation in the players’ eyes and their voices as they spoke to reporters Wednesday, but the challenge starting in the offseason and continuing into next year is figuring out what it takes to get to the next step in 2026-27. 

They believed they had the right mix this season, but the final 11 games were a reminder of just how difficult it is to reach that level. Young center Adam Fantilli believes, though, that learning how to win can be fueled by this experience of losing.  

“I think it takes being in the position that we’re in and getting fed up with it and realizing what we’re doing to ourselves,” Fantilli said. “We’re shooting ourselves in the foot sometimes, and we’re devastating our fans and they’re coming out and supporting us as much as possible. I think it takes the position that we’ve been in for a little bit and we have been. I said at the beginning of the year this season was going to be a failure if we didn’t make the playoffs, and that’s exactly what it is.” 

Indeed, the feeling of cleaning out lockers and saying goodbyes on Wednesday instead of getting ready for postseason hockey is one that will sit with the team throughout the summer. The Blue Jackets had what they feel is a close locker room filled with players who were capable of getting the team back in the postseason for the first time since 2020. 

“There’s no one that is a part of the organization that is just satisfied with rolling over and just being like, ‘All right, this is where we’re at,’” Cole Sillinger said. “I believe that everyone in there and everyone that’s a part of it is not happy with where we’re at. Our fans deserve better.” 

It was in their grasp, and then it was gone. That might be the most frustrating part of it all, but it can also be inspiration going forward.  

“This is the worst I’ve ever felt leaving a season, and I’m gonna do everything I can the next few weeks and over the summer to reflect on it and become a better hockey player and a better leader, better person, and hopefully try not to let stuff like this happen again,” Werenski said.