{"id":553552,"date":"2026-04-16T01:42:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T01:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/553552\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T01:42:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T01:42:21","slug":"blue-jackets-players-respond-after-getting-called-out-by-head-coach-for-not-caring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/553552\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jackets Players Respond After Getting Called Out By Head Coach For Not Caring"},"content":{"rendered":"

There seemed to be some differing perspectives on the issue…<\/p>\n

PublishedApril 15, 2026 8:30 PM EDT\u2022UpdatedApril 15, 2026 8:30 PM EDT<\/p>\n

FacebookTwitterEmailCopy Link<\/p>\n

The Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> had a monumental collapse down the stretch that ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss to the Washington Capitals to put their season to an end.<\/p>\n

How bad was it? How about going 2-7-1 in your final 10 games and missing the playoffs by just five to seven points?<\/p>\n

Had they won just three or four more games, there’s a chance they’d be headed to the playoffs.<\/p>\n

After the game, head coach Rick Bowness ripped the team’s effort<\/a> \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014down the stretch.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, players got the chance to respond to their coach’s fiery post-game comments.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re all frustrated, and the fans are too. We were in a good spot and weren\u2019t good enough down the stretch. That\u2019s on us. We have to own it and learn from it,” Jackets captain Boone Jenner said, per WTOP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We have to learn how to win and get over that hump. That\u2019s what our fans deserve, and we owe it to each other. It\u2019s a tough lesson and will be a long summer thinking about it,” Adam Fantilli said, seemingly echoing his captain’s take.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Blue Jackets\u2019 late-season collapse sparks tension as players push back on Rick Bowness\u2019 effort critique after missing playoffs. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

While Jenner did the captainly thing and rode the fence between his coach and teammates, and Fantilli followed suit, \u00a0defenseman Zach Werenski was more forward about disagreeing with Bowness’ assessment of the team’s fight level.<\/p>\n

“I have a ton of respect for him. He loves us as players, and we love him as a coach,” Werenski said. “We need to learn how to win, and he can help us with that. He\u2019s been around a long time and knows what it takes. We haven\u2019t done it enough \u2014 it\u2019s clear. But saying we don\u2019t care or don\u2019t hate to lose, I think that\u2019s wrong.”<\/p>\n

I understand Werenski’s perspective here, but you’ve got to remember that Bowness didn’t just say that his players didn’t care; he brought stats to back it up.<\/p>\n

Those stats were three hits and 23 turnovers over 60 minutes, which does sound at the least like anecdotal evidence of a lack of caring.<\/p>\n

Especially since those hits came in a 2-1 game\u2026 at home.<\/p>\n

They were within sight of a win and still couldn’t be bothered to get physical or be more careful with the puck.<\/p>\n

It’s going to be a long offseason for the Jackets and for their fans, and it will be interesting to see whether the Jackets stick with Bowness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There seemed to be some differing perspectives on the issue… PublishedApril 15, 2026 8:30 PM EDT\u2022UpdatedApril 15, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,897,230,5179,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-553552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-columbus-blue-jackets","8":"tag-blue-jackets","9":"tag-bluejackets","10":"tag-columbus","11":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","12":"tag-columbusbluejackets","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116411849460858430","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}