Columbus Blue Jackets Coach John Tortorella Shouldn't Have Benched Ryan Johansen

The Columbus Blue Jackets were the biggest disappointment of the beginning of the year. So much so, that they decided to fire their coach Todd Richards and replaced him with the polarizing John Tortorella. It worked at first, with them winning 7 of 11 games after going 0-8 to start the season.

The problem seems to be that the shine has worn off of the coaching change. The Blue Jackets only won one game in December. They are back deep in the basement of the Metropolitan Division. Their starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is out of the lineup again. Tortorella felt he needed to shake up the lineup, but he made a terrible decision.

He scratched Ryan Johansen, possibly the best player on the team. Johansen isn’t injured, so this is a healthy scratch. Tortorella said he wanted to stop the star player’s slide before it gets really bad.

Johansen has no goals in December and only four assists. He is clearly slumping, but this move could backfire severely. A slumping superstar is something you need to let them play through. Their talent will eventually come through and reestablish their confidence. Once the confidence comes back, then they can carry a team.

What this could do is ruin the relationship between Torts and Johansen. If this early in his tenure Tortorella loses his superstar player, that means it will eventually have to come forward. The coach just told the superstar he believes he can win without him. There is no winning here, even if the Blue Jackets do beat the floundering Arizona Coyotes.

The reality is Tortorella can lose the entire locker room with this move. Sitting your best players shows that nobody is safe, and athletes usually like to feel safe in their position. Despite his recent slump, Johansen is second on the team in points.

The Blue Jackets are close to having a lost season. They still have around 50 games left, but find themselves 11 points out of a playoff spot. It was clear that they had to do something, but this is something that is more likely to fail than it is to succeed. Only time will tell how this will affect Johansen. Maybe it will work, but if it doesn’t it can severely affect the future of this franchise. Was it worth one game?