Waddell was with the team for the next game, a 5-2 loss at the San Jose Sharks. He sensed from conversations with the players that they were unhappy with their performance.
“They weren’t bashing the coach, but I could tell that they were frustrated with how things were going,” he said.
That set the process in motion to fire Evason and replace him with Bowness, who’s 310-408-37 with 48 ties in 803 games as an NHL head coach with the Jets, Stars, Phoenix Coyotes, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins.
“When I looked at the roster, and I did see a few of their games during the year, I looked at that team and said, ‘I think I can help that team, ” Bowness said. “They’re better than their record shows. And listen, every team has had their injuries, and every team has been set back by their injuries, and that’s certainly affected this squad, but I feel that Columbus is among the teams, honestly, I feel I can help.”
Assistant Steve McCarthy was also fired one season after the Blue Jackets went 40-33-9 to finish two points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card from the East. They have not qualified for the postseason since 2019-20.
“Don felt like this was a time to make a change,” defenseman Zach Werenski said. “I keep saying it, but I feel like that’s him telling us he still believes in this group. He believes in this season and now we just have to do our part.
“You never want to see people lose their jobs because of your play on the ice. I feel like for our group that it’s pretty much these next stretch of games that’s going to make our season.”
Columbus forward Sean Monahan played 34 regular-season games under Bowness with Winnipeg in 2023-24. He doesn’t expect him to ease into his new job.
“We’ve still got time to get back in this fight and he’s here to win, so it’s not like he just came in to coach again,” he said. “He believes in this group and that’s the biggest thing.
“It’s our time to step up here and take some pride in doing this the right way. Just under 40 games to go, there’s time for sure and I think the biggest thing is the belief in this room. We believe we can do it. We’ve all got to jump on board and be on the same page every night.”
