November 2, 2026
November 2, 2026
Columbus Blue Jackets 2025-26 Season: Rescued, Then Undone
Few teams have climbed so far and fallen so hard in a single winter. The Blue Jackets’ 2025-26 season began with real expectations, sank to the bottom of the Eastern Conference by January, and then roared back under a 71-year-old coach pulled out of retirement. By late March, Columbus sat second in the Metropolitan Division. By mid-April, the playoff drought had reached six years.
Columbus entered the summer believing it was close. The 2024-25 team had finished just two points shy of a wild-card spot, and general manager Don Waddell moved to close that gap. On draft weekend, he acquired veteran center Charlie Coyle and winger Miles Wood from Colorado, sending prospect Gavin Brindley and draft picks the other way.
Waddell also secured the blue line. Ivan Provorov signed a seven-year extension on July 1, locking in a durable partner behind Zach Werenski. Veterans such as Sean Kuraly and James van Riemsdyk departed in free agency. Goaltender Ivan Fedotov arrived from Philadelphia in September for a late-round pick. The club also used two first-round selections on defenseman Jackson Smith and goaltender Pyotr Andreyanov. Dean Evason returned behind the bench after guiding the team to 89 points the year before.
The optimism unraveled by midwinter. Columbus could generate chances, ranking in the top 10 in shots and high-danger looks, yet it could not keep pucks out of its own net. The Blue Jackets allowed 3.38 goals per game, fifth-most in the league. A four-game losing streak in early January saw them surrender 4.75 goals per night.
Waddell tried to spark the roster first. He acquired Mason Marchment from Seattle on December 20, then sent Egor Chinakhov to Pittsburgh for Danton Heinen and draft picks. The slide continued anyway. When the club woke up on January 12, it was 19-19-7, last in the Metropolitan Division and seven points out of a playoff spot. That morning, Columbus fired Evason and assistant Steve McCarthy, as detailed in ESPN’s report on the coaching change.
The replacement was Rick Bowness, who had retired in May 2024 after two playoff seasons in Winnipeg. He did not tear the system apart. He tightened the defensive zone, demanded better communication between forwards and defensemen, and leaned on video to drive the lessons home. The response was immediate and staggering.
Columbus won 10 of its first 11 games under Bowness, tying the NHL record for the fewest games needed by a coach to reach 10 wins with a franchise. No team in the league collected more points from his arrival to the Olympic break. The streak peaked on February 4 against Chicago. Jet Greaves made 21 saves for a shutout. Werenski also scored, joining Phil Housley and Reed Larson as the only American defensemen with consecutive 20-goal seasons. The night before, Columbus had blanked New Jersey 3-0, giving the club shutouts on consecutive nights with different goaltenders. The Star Tribune recap of the 4-0 win marked a seventh straight victory. A team buried in January now sat two points behind the Islanders for third in the division.
The Olympic break only added to Werenski’s legend. He recorded six points for Team USA in Milan and delivered the primary assist on Jack Hughes’ overtime winner against Canada in the gold medal game. He came home a champion and kept carrying the Jackets.
Waddell bought in at the deadline, acquiring Conor Garland from Vancouver on March 6. Columbus then seized control of its fate with a 7-1-3 stretch from March 5 to March 25. On March 19, Adam Fantilli scored twice in a 6-3 win over the Rangers that pushed Columbus into a playoff position and extended its point streak to 11 games. The record under Bowness stood at 17-2-4. A 3-2 win in Philadelphia five days later lifted the club to second in the Metropolitan. Public models gave Columbus roughly an 88 percent chance of reaching the postseason.
The Blue Jackets’ 2025-26 season turned on a single week. Damon Severson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury on March 26, removing a steady right-shot defenseman from the lineup. Dmitri Voronkov went down two days later, and enforcer Mathieu Olivier last played on March 29.
The offense dried up just as the defense thinned. Columbus had averaged 3.31 goals per game from January through March. In April, that number fell to two. Secondary scoring vanished, and the losses piled up. The club dropped eight of ten during one brutal stretch, and Nationwide Arena became a place of dread rather than refuge.
The end came in the cruelest fashion. Columbus fell 3-2 to Boston on April 12, leaving its hopes hanging on other results. The next night, the Flyers beat Carolina in a shootout, and the Blue Jackets were mathematically eliminated without taking the ice. The NHL.com breakdown of the elimination traced the fall to injuries and a stalled attack.
The finale against Washington exposed the wound. Columbus managed three hits and committed 23 giveaways in a 2-1 loss, its sixth straight home defeat. Bowness did not hold back afterward. “These guys, they don’t care,” he said, adding that if he returned, he would be changing the culture. The full account of his postgame remarks captured a coach who refused to accept a quiet ending. The team finished 2-8-1 over its final 11 games.
Werenski was the heartbeat of everything. He posted 22 goals and 81 points, tied Artemi Panarin’s franchise record with 59 assists, and set a club record with 26 multi-point games. He led the team in shots and ice time and finished as a legitimate Norris Trophy contender.
Kirill Marchenko led the club in goals for a third straight season with 27, adding 67 points and seven game-winners. Fantilli played all 82 games again and set career highs with 35 assists and 59 points. Coyle justified the summer trade with 20 goals and 58 points. Marchment delivered 15 goals in Columbus and became a fixture on the top line with Fantilli and Marchenko.
The kids also stepped forward. Denton Mateychuk scored 13 goals from the back end while logging more than 19 minutes a night. Cole Sillinger set a career high with 33 points. Captain Boone Jenner moved into third place in franchise history in both assists and points.
In goal, Greaves seized the starting job. He went 26-19-9 with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage. Elvis Merzlikins struggled behind him with a .883 mark. The full statistical picture is available on Wikipedia’s season page.
The final record read 40-30-12, good for 92 points and fifth in the Metropolitan. It was the fifth-highest point total in franchise history, and the first time Columbus had cleared 90 points without making the playoffs. Goals for and against matched at 253 apiece, a fitting symbol of a team that never tipped decisively in either direction.
The Blue Jackets’ 2025-26 season will be remembered for two truths that coexist uneasily. Bowness proved this roster could play winning hockey, going 21-11-5 after inheriting a last-place team. The collapse proved it was not yet hardened enough to finish the job. Sixteen sellouts, the most since 2003-04, showed how badly Columbus wanted to believe.
Bowness agreed on April 16 to return for another season, and he carried his warning into the summer. The core of Werenski, Marchenko, Fantilli, and Mateychuk is young and proven. What the Blue Jackets’ 2025-26 season left behind was not despair but a debt. The next team owes this fanbase the finish this one could not deliver.
7th February, 2017
17th June, 2026
5th March, 2016
29th March, 2016
17th April, 2016
November 2nd, 2026 2
November 2nd, 2026 2
November 2nd, 2026 2
