Things turn ugly in Columbus following Laine's benching and scratch

The Columbus Blue Jackets have lost 12 of their last 13 games and are showing no signs of righting their season.

The hapless BJ's are dead last in the NHL's Metropolitan Division with just four wins in their first 19 games to start the 2023-24 campaign. After an offseason that was filled with optimism following the hiring of veteran head coach Mike Babcock, the team was forced to endure a coaching change before Babcock even coached a game for the team and seemingly they've never gained the traction that they were hoping for. The Blue Jackets were forced to go back to the drawing board just days before the start the season after it was uncovered that Babcock had solicited his players to share with him private photos from their phone.

"Upon reflection, it has become clear that continuing as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets was going to be too much of a distraction," Babcock said in statement back in September. "While I'm disappointed to not have had the opportunity to continue the work we've begun, I know it's in the best interest of the organization for me to step away at this time. I wish everyone in the organization well in the upcoming season."

Assistant coach Pascal Vincent was promoted to the team's head coaching role and, to be frank, it's been clear that he's not yet ready for the job. At the very least, he's not yet ready to manage big personalities and big money players like Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine.

Last week, both Laine and Gaudreau were benched for the latter part of the 3rd period when they were down to the Arizona Coyotes.

Check it out:

And then this past weekend In case you missed it the Blue Jackets scratched Laine following some uninspiring play in recent games.

Today, Laine met with the media to talk about happened, calling it, "the most embarrassing thing that's happened to me."

Laine's full comments courtesy of Blue Jackets insider Aaron Portzline:

"Over my career, it's probably the most embarrassing thing that's happened to me. I'm not happy about that. They know that. It is what it is. It's over and done."

- Patrik Laine

Yikes... not what you want to hear from your $8.7 million superstar sniper.