July 3: The Winnipeg Jets have made it official via a release and Twitter announcement, naming Rick Bowness the eighth coach in Winnipeg Jets history and third since the team relocated from Atlanta. According to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, the contract is for two seasons at $2.5MM per season (link).
July 1: While one coaching vacancy was suddenly created today when San Jose parted ways with Bob Boughner, it appears another is about to close. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that the Jets are in the process of finalizing an agreement with Rick Bowness to become their next head coach.
It will be a return to where it all began for the 67-year-old as his first NHL coaching job actually came with the original Jets franchise (now the Coyotes) all the way back in 1988-89 when he took over midseason. Since then, Bowness has a long track record of coaching, both as a head coach and an assistant and Dreger notes that his experience was a big factor in Winnipeg’s choice. Of course, they were previously linked to Barry Trotz, an experienced bench boss who ultimately declined their offer to take over so GM Kevin Cheveldayoff was clearly looking for someone that has run an NHL bench in the past.
Bowness most recently was head coach of Dallas where he spent parts of three seasons at the helm. This past season, the Stars posted a 46-30-6 record, good for a points percentage of .598, their best since the 2015-16 campaign. That was enough to get them into the playoffs as the top Wild Card seed in the Western Conference where they made it to the seventh game against Calgary in the opening round. Despite that, the team saw fit to make a change behind the bench, ultimately installing Peter DeBoer as their new head coach after Bowness and the team mutually agreed to part ways.
Over his career, Bowness has a 212-351-76 record as an NHL head coach with stints with the Jets, Bruins, Senators, Islanders, Coyotes, and Stars. It’s worth noting that his four seasons with the then-expansion Sens played a considerable role in making that mark as poor as it looks as Ottawa only won 39 of 235 games under his tutelage.
Assuming the contract does get finalized, Bowness will be taking over a Winnipeg team that was among the biggest underachievers in the league last season. There is a strong forward core in place but Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, and Pierre-Luc Dubois have all been in trade speculation in recent weeks with the expectation that Cheveldayoff is looking to shake up his core. Meanwhile, Connor Hellebuyck is coming off a tough year but is still only two years removed from winning the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie. By going for an experienced head coach, it’s clear that there will be win-now expectations for Bowness and the Jets, no matter what winds up happening with their roster over the coming months.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NHL’s retread obsession strikes again.
Winterpeg like being exiled
What happened to Rick Tocchet ????
It’s been over 30 years since Bowness was the head coach in Winnipeg.
Who was Winnipeg’s second choice? Joe Biden?
Biden was actually the 1st choice. But there were too many stairs between the coaches office & the ice for him to handle.
God how disappointing.
Litterally just a stop gap to whenever trotz wants to coach again
100% that’s the plan, Rick will then become the assistant coach.
Worst hire so far this off-season. I guess Winnipeg wants in on Bedard.
This is simply a placeholder until Trotz is ready. Bowness will retire as soon as he is willing.
He is the Ron Rothstein of hockey
It’s entirely possible that Trotz gets Into management and off the road when he returns.
I thought this was a Babylon Bee article at first. This is an awful hiring.
Rick Bowness has been coaching in the NHL for 35 years. You don’t last that long unless you are know what you are doing and good at your job. Furthermore, he is considered to be a class act and a coach that players enjoy playing for. The Jets roster is currently a bit of a dysfunctional mess that has several skilled malcontents in the mix that need a steady hand to get them all pulling in the right direction. This isn’t a roster that would respond well to a Tortorella type and a hiring an inexperienced coach could lead to certain players attempting to push the coach around. Once Trotz decided not to coach this year, Bowness became the perfect fallback. I love Tocchet, one of my all time favorite players and he should get another chance as a head coach but I don’t think this group of players was a good fit for him. There were several splashier names they could have gone with but I give Cheveldayoff credit for looking past the names and finding the right fit for his group of players. Bowness did an incredible job in Dallas given his two star, overpaid players have not cone close to earning their contracts and that he rarely knew who he could count on between the pipes. Him getting the Stars to the finals was one of the best coaching jobs I’ve seen recently and he didn’t get the credit he deserved for it. The negative comments about this hire show how little you know about the game and those who are in it.
Do you think Bowness’ overly conservative approach to the game may be why his two star players have underperformed during his tenure?
Many people, including myself, think the Stars should’ve been a better team than they were these past two seasons. There’s more talent on that roster than there record indicated. Bowness may be a nice guy, but his coaching record is iffy.
My exact thoughts as a Stars fan…well sort of. Benn’s play style just isn’t built for long term and Seguin had a pretty major knee issue that’s pretty hard to come back from.
Not saying that Bowness wasn’t entirely blameless in those situations, but it was the player itself too.
^ Rick Bowness burner account
If he did such a great job why wasn’t he invited back to Dallas? Why did Tampa let him leave?
He’s been in the league for 35 years and still coaches like it’s 1975. His “wait and see” mentality and his inability to adjust in-game got him canned.
Lazy hire by Cheveldayoff!!!!!!
He will be chasing out the passengers.
This is a good hire. The club is going nowhere,the French kid be a Hab soon,someone has to be coach.
DONT BREAK YOUR HAND PUNCHING THE GLASS RICK!!!!
Man collecting social security and a check from Winnipeg.
Really think Trotz wants to coach in Winnipeg? If he did, he’d be there now.
I kinda agree with Darth. The Jets have some high maintenance players who have underperformed. Might not be the best place for a newbie coach.
Scotty Bowman not available?
Guess teams want to play boring ass hockey.so glad my stars got rid of him