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BRAMPTON, Ontario — Don Waddell believes the Columbus Blue Jackets need their daily approach to change before the Stanley Cup Playoffs can become a consideration.

“The one thing is, I’m not saying it was everybody, but losing was acceptable [here] and losing is not acceptable,” Waddell, who was hired as Blue Jackets president and general manager on May 28, said during an appearance on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio on Thursday. “We have a ways to go building this, but our goal every year should be to win the Stanley Cup, not just to win some games. It’s a mindset. I believe what happened last year, talking to everybody, things didn’t go well and they had a lot of injuries at the beginning of the year and fell out of the race pretty quick [and] they just kind of played out the season. And we have to change that.”

The Blue Jackets (27-43-12) finished last in the Eastern Conference and 29th in the NHL standings, and missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

That led to several organizational changes, including the hiring of Waddell and Dean Evason as coach July 22. Evason replaced Pascal Vincent, who was fired June 17 after one season.

Defenseman Erik Gudbranson, who will be entering his third season with the Blue Jackets, agreed that the players need to revisit the way they approach each day before worrying about loftier goals.

“We have to get something out of every single day, we can’t lose a day,” Gudbranson told NHL.com on Wednesday during Hockey Night In Brampton, the third annual charity hockey game that included current and former NHL players and raised just shy of $14 million for the William Osler Health System toward building a second hospital in the city. “We’re not in a position to do so. We did that the last two years and it did not work out well. … We’ve got to get our culture going the right way.

“We’ve got a lot of tools at our disposal in our [locker] room and a lot of character and good people and it’s about bringing that all together, asking more of ourselves and being better straight up. That’s it. We had our glimpses in games and we’d lose, and weeks where we’d play well but not come out with wins. We’ve got to start producing those points because we have the ability to do so.”

Center Sean Monahan, who signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract ($5.5 million average annual value) with the Blue Jackets on July 1, will be looked to for a significant impact on the ice. But he also was targeted for his ability to help shift the team’s culture in a positive direction. The Blue Jackets got feedback from Gudbranson and Columbus forward Johnny Gaudreau, who played with Monahan with the Calgary Flames.

“One hundred percent,” Waddell said. “Once I had the opportunity to talk to him, he wanted to be a Blue Jacket. Any time you are talking about free agents, the best source to go to is their former teammates, and every guy to a man said if you can get him, he’d be a great guy on the ice but in the locker room too.”

Added Gudbranson, “The hockey player is a very good one that we desperately need, but the person is a massive portion of what comes with that.”

Waddell feels the Blue Jackets are in a similar position to where the Carolina Hurricanes were when he took over as their general manager May 8, 2018. Despite possessing a collection of talented young players at the time, including forwards Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen, and defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce, the Hurricanes had missed the playoffs nine straight seasons. Rod Brind’Amour was hired as coach the same day Waddell took over as GM, and since then the Hurricanes have made the playoffs each of the past six seasons.

The Blue Jackets have an impressive collection of talented players all age 26 and younger, including forwards Adam Fantilli, Kirill Marchenko, Dmitri Voronkov, Kent Johnson, Cole Sillinger and Yegor Chinakhov, and defensemen David Jiricek and Jordan Harris.

Waddell is hoping Evason can have a similar impact with the Blue Jackets that Brind’Amour did with the Hurricanes.

“His passion wasn’t just to coach in the NHL, right from Day One it was that he wanted to coach the Columbus Blue Jackets,” Waddell said. “When I brought him in for a formal interview, there were five of us in the room, we all walked away saying he’s the guy who is going to lead us to the next level.

“It’s all about starting with accountability, a structure in place, and culture will get there. Back in Carolina when I took over and I hired Rod Brind’Amour, Rod was great about executing a plan. And I believe Dean Evason has the same mold. It has to be about hockey. Hockey first. We are all here to play hockey. We all make a good salary. So the No. 1 priority is to prepare ourselves every night. It doesn’t mean you are going to win every night, but prepare yourself so you have a chance to win.”