When Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Rick Bowness publicly laid into his players after a 2-1 season-ending loss to the Washington Capitals that capped off a catastrophic slump that doused any hopes of a playoff appearance, the big question was whether he’d be back behind the bench.Well, it would appear the Blue Jackets didn’t have to think too hard about it because they’ve already signed the coach to a one-year extension. Bowness took over from Dean Evason in January, and it looked like the Jackets might be able to get into the playoffs for the first time since 2020.However, they hit the skids hard in March and finished out the regular season with a 2-7-1 record in their last ten games, and six points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third in the Metropolitan Division.READ: BLUE JACKETS PLAYERS RESPOND AFTER GETTING CALLED OUT BY HEAD COACH FOR NOT CARINGThat collapse — and the apparent lack of effort and care — led to Bowness ripping the team and swearing that if he’s back for the 2026-27 season, there will be a significant culture change.Well? Here we go!”I have really enjoyed my time with this organization and absolutely love being part of it and working with these players,” Bowness said in a statement. “We’re all very disappointed by how our season ended, and we have a lot of work to do, but we will do what’s necessary to be the type of team we want to be and that our great fans expect us to be.”I love this move. This just shows me that the Columbus front office saw the same thing Bowness saw down the stretch, and they think he’s the right guy to fix it.They could’ve easily said, “Meh, time to move on” after he took a flamethrower to his old team, but they didn’t.That flamethrower-ing is probably going to prove to be a good thing in the long run.