Maple Leafs Have Spoken To Ryan Bowness About Vacant GM Position
With one of their original targets snapped up when the Devils named Sunny Mehta as their new General Manager this week, Toronto’s GM search continues. Several candidates have already interviewed for the position with more interviews expected in the coming days. In the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Islanders assistant GM Ryan Bowness is believed to have interviewed for the position.
The 42-year-old has a lot of experience in various off-ice capacities, having worked in the NHL since 2009 when he was a hockey ops assistant with Atlanta. He continued on in that capacity when the team moved to Winnipeg, then spent three more years as a pro scout. Bowness then joined Pittsburgh in that same capacity for three years before getting another promotion, this time putting him in charge of the pro scouting department.
An on-the-rise executive, Bowness received his next promotion three years later in 2022 when he joined Ottawa as an assistant GM while also being in charge of their AHL team in Belleville. He was elevated to an associate GM position for 2024-25 but the Sens opted not to renew his contract after the season. Ten days later, he joined the Islanders in his current role.
So far, the Maple Leafs have interviewed a mixture of experienced and first-time candidates. Mike Gillis and John Chayka have experience running a team while internal options Brandon Pridham and Ryan Hardy would be first-timers but have familiarity with the organization. Bowness joins Mehta (now off the market) as external first-time candidates with that list likely to grow in the near future.
Islanders Name Ryan Bowness Assistant General Manager
The Islanders have named Ryan Bowness as an assistant general manager and their director of player personnel, the team announced Monday.
Bowness, 41, arrives on Long Island after serving in a similar role for the Senators over the past three seasons. He was an AGM there under Pierre Dorion and Steve Staios, and his principal responsibilities included managing the club’s AHL affiliate in Belleville.
He will not hold the same role under new Isles GM Mathieu Darche, Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News reports. That’s an important distinction. Outgoing GM Lou Lamoriello signed his AGMs, including his son Chris Lamoriello, to contract extensions shortly before the club informed him his contract would not be renewed for next season, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. The younger Lamoriello had served as AHL Bridgeport’s GM since the 2017-18 season, during which time they’ve made the playoffs just twice and finished 2024-25 with a league-worst 15-50-7 record.
There was understandable speculation that Darche might opt to fire Lamoriello anyway, or at least reassign the AHL GM duties to someone else in the front office, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Bowness will instead augment the existing support staff of Lamoriello and Stephen Pellegrini, another longtime Lamoriello assistant, as the team looks for a new direction at the top while adding some much-needed organizational depth to aid in prospect development.
The Nova Scotia native and son of longtime NHL coach Rick Bowness began his front office career in 2009 after just a handful of professional games as a right-winger, although he was an eighth-round pick of the Blue Jackets back in 2001. He started out as a team manager for the Thrashers/Jets franchise from the 2009-10 to 2012-13 campaigns before being promoted to Winnipeg’s pro scouting department. After three more years in Manitoba, Bowness joined the Penguins’ scouting department from 2016-17 to 2021-22. His last three years in Pittsburgh were spent as their director of professional scouting.
Senators Part Ways With AGM Ryan Bowness
The Senators have informed teams they won’t be keeping assistant general manager Ryan Bowness, sources tell Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. He’s free to pursue front office vacancies elsewhere.
The son of longtime NHL head coach Rick Bowness has been with Ottawa since the 2022-23 campaign, with most of his duties revolving around managing their AHL affiliate in Belleville. He was previously a team manager and pro scout with the Thrashers/Jets from 2009 to 2016 and also with the Penguins from 2016 to 2022, spending his last three years in Pittsburgh as the team’s director of professional scouting.
He’s now got over 15 years of experience in NHL front offices, quite a high number for a 41-year-old. While he doesn’t appear to be a candidate for the Islanders’ GM vacancy, he could be a name the Kings want to talk to in their search for Rob Blake‘s successor. Even if he doesn’t land that gig, he shouldn’t have much trouble finding an AGM role elsewhere as teams continue to make minor staff alterations over the summer.
The B-Sens posted a respectable 103-86-27 record over the last three seasons under Bowness’ management, but only made the Calder Cup Playoffs once in a stacked North Division. Notable trade pickups the Penguins made while Bowness was their director of pro scouting included Jason Zucker, Jeff Carter, and Rickard Rakell.