New coach bump continues to pay off for Blue Jackets

The fight for the Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference is heating up with just a few weeks to go in the regular season. There’s one team in the race that few could’ve expected to be in the battle at this point in the year.

When the Columbus Blue Jackets fired Dean Evason as head coach on Jan. 12, the team sat at the bottom of the East, with all signs pointing toward another solid pick in the NHL Draft. However, with the veteran Rick Bowness returning to the bench, there has been a rejuvenated confidence in a group that features a balance of veterans and young talent.

Since Bowness took over, Columbus has gone 18-2-4, one of the best records in the NHL over that span.

The Blue Jackets (37-21-11) sit third in the Metropolitan Division, two points ahead of the New York Islanders for four.

On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discussed Bowness’ impact in Ohio’s capital.

Carter Hutton: They’ve been an absolute great story. I think, for them, it goes to show you what a coach can change. This wasn’t a big personnel change. Yes, they added Conor Garland and he’s been fitting it well, but that being said, Columbus is one of those teams that I think early in the year, all of us were a little bit surprised based on expectations and predictions of what we thought they would be capable of doing. Now, they’ve found their rhythm and they’re hot at the right time. I think Jet Greaves, not to make everything about goaltending, but I am a bit biased, Jet Greaves has been a great story this year as an undersized guy. Elvis Merzlikins has been placed in that position to be more of a backup, and then the fact that they’re getting contributions from everyone, and Zach Werenski’s been a great story as well. 

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…