Rick Bowness blows up during heated Blue Jackets practice!

The Columbus Blue Jackets are barely a month into the 2026-27 season, and frustration within the organization is already boiling over.

On Wednesday, head coach Rick Bowness banged his stick against the wall during practice, loudly calling out what he considered a lackadaisical drill, according to reporter Aaron Portzline. The outburst came one day after Columbus was embarrassed by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The incident is the latest sign that Bowness has lost patience with a roster that has now suffered four blowout losses in its first eight games.

"I know people think Bowness has been too tough on these guys," Portzline wrote. "But four blowout losses in eight games and a shameful showing on Tuesday vs Leafs … not good enough."

Kellyanne Bodeman shared a video of the tough practice led by Bowness. He can be heard yelling:

“Go again! Do it right!”

This is not the first time Bowness has gone public with his frustration. After a 7-3 loss to the Florida Panthers earlier this month, the coach delivered a blistering postgame message.

"You gotta believe that performance will embarrass them enough to stop this, right?" Bowness said at the time. "Because if they're not embarrassed by that, we don't want them on the team. Simple as that."

He added that any player who wasn't motivated by that kind of defeat was "on the wrong team."

The early-season turbulence comes amid significant upheaval in Columbus. The franchise lost captain Boone Jenner to free agency in Washington, saw Kirill Marchenko force a trade to Toronto, and dealt with a drawn-out contract negotiation involving Adam Fantilli. On top of all that, star defenseman Zach Werenski reportedly came close to being dealt to the Dallas Stars over the summer before blocking the move with his no-movement clause.

Bowness has maintained that he believes in his group and that the issues are correctable. But reaching this level of intensity just eight games into the campaign leaves him very little room to ratchet things up further if results do not improve.

The Blue Jackets must respond in their next outing. If the blowouts continue, Wednesday's stick-slamming episode may end up looking like just the beginning.