That was quick.
Less than 48 hours after the regular season came to a disappointing end for the Columbus Blue Jackets, the club announced Thursday that Rick Bowness will return as head coach next season.
"I'm very, very happy to announce that we've extended Rick's contract through next season," said President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Don Waddell.
"Obviously, if you look at the body of work that happened here over the last 37 games, I'm very pleased with Rick's work."
Bowness went 21-11-5 in those 37 games and brought the Blue Jackets out of last place in the Eastern Conference to as high as second place in the Metropolitan division.
But a 2-8-1 finish sunk the Blue Jackets, and the club finished six points out of a playoff spot.
After the season finale loss, a lifeless 2-1 defeat to the Washington Capitals, Bowness let it rip.
"These guys, they don't care," Bowness said. "Losing is not important enough to them. It doesn't bother them."
"I don't know if I'm back, but if I'm back, I'm changing this culture," Bowness said, a point he reiterated on multiple occasions.
It was a rant for the ages, and one that was cathartic to many of the long-suffering fans of the team. The cries for Bowness to return were immediate, with Waddell and 'Bones' making it official Thursday that he would come back for at least one more season.
There were plenty of takeaways from the 35-minute press conference announcing Bowness' return. Here are five quotes from Bowness at the press conference — and what they might mean for the future.
"I wouldn't come back if I didn't think we could get this team in the playoffs. I want to win."
This might seem like a cliche quote. It's not. At 71, Bowness is the oldest coach in the league, and it was only about 100 days ago that he was retired and on a boat off the coast of Florida with his wife, Judy. Bowness has said multiple times in his three months in Columbus that had it been another team asking him to come out of retirement, the answer might have been different. There is clearly still a hunger and clearly still a passion. He didn't have to come back. Bowness had a decision to make, too. He chose Columbus, and Columbus is better for it.
"Two points in October are just as important as two points in April."
All the talk about the culture needing an upgrade and that they need to care more about losing — that doesn't start in March or April. That starts in game one, and by the sounds of it, Bowness is going to work to start that process even earlier than that. It's natural for losses to not sting as bad when "there's still plenty of games left", but they have to, and that's a part of the culture Bowness is going to help install with a full season (and offseason, and camp) under his belt. They won't win every game, but losses have to hurt every game.
"I associate leadership with the guy who cares to win, who wants to win. You don't have to have a 'C' or an 'A' to be a leader. You don't. If your heart and your passion is in the right spot, you're a leader."
Leaders are not defined by a few players with an extra letter on the front of the jersey. Bowness' definition of leadership here shows that the entire team has to (and will) be accountable, has to support one another, and has to show it on a night-in, night-out basis. Good strong leadership is not an overnight process — or in Bowness' case, 94 nights — but it is something that can be developed throughout this summer, into camp, and then translate into the regular season.
"We'll certainly make some changes. (Our) special teams have to get a lot better. They can't be where they are. We have to improve those, and we can. We'll spend a lot of time in training camp on those."
When asked about on-ice changes, Bowness was quick to point to special teams. It's difficult for a coach to come in mid-season and make too many systemic changes — but it's easy to rebuild the system from the ground up when the team has over five months until their next game. By committing now to significant training camp time for both the power play and penalty kill, Bowness is signaling urgency, accountability, and a willingness to adjust both personnel and systems.
"He told me he thinks a number one (goalie). I said 'good. Come to camp, be in great shape, and prove it.' We'll give him every opportunity. He wants to fight for that number one spot. Fight for it, right? You think you're a #1 goalie? Prove it."
In his exit interview with goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, Bowness shared that Merzlikins told him he believed he was a number one goalie. By this quote, and by Waddell's statement this afternoon that the Blue Jackets feel comfortable with their tandem moving forward, it sounds — at least at this point — that the combination of Merzlikins and Jet Greaves will start the 2026-27 season. Statistically, Greaves was the better of the two goalies by a wide margin this season. Heading into the final year of his contract, will Merzlikins answer Bowness' challenge?
