Blue Jackets' Playoff Drought Continues, Fans' Loyalty Tested

0:00It's April 18th. This is NHL News Today, powered by AI Everything Happening With Your Team. I'm Corey with The Story. The Columbus Blue Jackets just wrapped up another rough one, missing the playoffs for the sixth straight season in 2025-26. This franchise entered the year with Sky High Hopes, from owners to players, swearing they'd snap that drought. They even set it around an 80% chance with a month left, but chilled hard down the stretch. After new coach Ritt Bownes, they flipped from last in the east to contenders, tightening defense and finding timely goals. But reality hit like a truck. Starting with a shutout loss to the islanders, they dropped key games to Philly, Montreal, San Jose, Boston, Carolina, and Winnipeg. Captured it with the brutal zero wins, five losses, one tie in their final six home games. Fans are straight up done. Over 25 years of this cycle, only two playoff series wins ever, against Tampa and Toronto, way back.

1:01No division finishes better than third. No player hitting 90 points in a season, not even in their 16 win streak year. Zach Wrensky lets scoring with 81, but no Ford cracked the top 50 league wide. Exit interviews echo the same bows from players like Winsky to reflect and grind harder, while Bownes returns fired up to fix the culture and. Third period meltdowns that plague both old coach Dean Everson and now him. Management insists playoffs are coming, but those are just words after repeated self-inflicted wounds. Now the pressure is on to back it up in 2026-27, rebuilding trust before apathy sets in for good. Loyalty's run deep here, but without real wins and deep runs, even the diehards might walk.