Blue Jackets: Rick Bowness tears into his players after a loss

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Blue Jackets: Rick Bowness tears into his players after a loss
Credit: Capture d'écran/Twitter

Tonight, the Blue Jackets lost to the Capitals by a score of 2-1. It was the team's final game of the season, as they will not be making the playoffs.

They completely fell apart after the trade deadline, losing 10 of their last 13 games in the midst of a playoff race.

And clearly, tonight's loss was the last straw for the team's coach, Rick Bowness. He spoke to the media after his team's defeat… and he wasn't exactly a happy customer.

Basically, he said he doesn't know yet if he'll be back next year (he's currently in the role on an interim basis), but that if he does return, he intends to change the culture in town.

Because, in Bowness's view, his players don't care enough about losing. And he was almost in tears when he said that.

Bowness, who's an old-school guy, was in the perfect position to let loose tonight. After all, his team's season is over and no one knows if he'll be back next year. So he didn't have much to lose.

Did his bosses like seeing him speak his mind like that? That's the million-dollar question.

We don't know what direction the Blue Jackets will take heading into next season. For two years in a row, the team has suffered a heartbreaking elimination at the end of the season, and it's unclear how much they'll want to make changes to get out of this no man's land.

Don Waddell will have some big decisions to make: let's see if Bowness's comments tonight will change anything.


Overtime

Bowness also mentioned that some players on the team are lucky there's no practice tomorrow. He noted that his players should be ashamed of losing six straight home games to end the season.

That says a lot.

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