Kent Johnson thrived in Rick Bowness’ debut for Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets played their first game with Rick Bowness behind the bench on Tuesday, earning a 5-3 win over the Calgary Flames.

The win came just one day after the team fired head coach Dean Evason, who led Columbus to a 19-19-7 record through 45 games. In her first season with the Blue Jackets, he coached the group to a 40-33-9 mark that fell just short of a Stanley Cup Playoff birth.

Charlie Coyle finished the night with two goals and an assist for three points, Zach Werenski also had a three-point night and Boone Jenner finished with a goal and assist.

But one player who stood out was Kent Johnson, who remained off the scoresheet but looked more engaged, taking three shots and finishing with 20:55 of ice time. The 2021 No. 5 overall pick has just four goals and 12 points through 45 games in 2025-26.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss the Blue Jackets’ first game in the Bowness era and how Johnson stood out.

Tyler Yaremchuk: What did you make of the effort from Columbus? Did anything stand out to you with Rick Bowness behind the bench?

Carter Hutton: I think the effort, right? You talked about shots, and I think that’s something controlled by what you put into the game. The message was sent to the locker room with the coaching change.

The other thing that stood out was Kent Johnson. We talked about his lack of success the other day, but he played 21 minutes last night and, for me, that’s the smoking gun.

He was averaging just over 13 minutes this year, and he’s been struggling. I don’t know if he was in Dean Evason’s dog house, but last night, Bowness came in and said “Johnson, you’re my boy.”

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…