WINNIPEG – He’s a lifelong hockey player, a man who has basically seen and done everything short of getting his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.
Rick Bowness has served in a variety of roles since the end of his nine-year pro career, and no one has been behind the bench (as a head coach or assistant) for more regular-season games than him, a tally that currently stands at 2,562 and counting.
There was widespread belief that Bowness might be ready to retire, but he dismissed that theory after stepping down as head coach of the Dallas Stars last month.
And after an exhaustive head coaching search that began with the pursuit of Barry Trotz, the Winnipeg Jets are set to officially unveil Bowness as the fourth head coach in franchise 2.0 history at some point this weekend.
“You’re not going to meet a nicer guy on or off the ice — he’s just a great human being, does everything right and is a first-class individual,” Dallas Stars general manager Jim Neal said in a phone interview Friday afternoon. “He gives everything he has to the team. It’s all about the team and he’s done a great job for us.”
The other finalists for the Jets head coaching job were former Detroit Red Wings bench boss Jeff Blashill, Columbus Blue Jackets associate coach Pascal Vincent, TNT analyst Rick Tocchett and Washington Capitals assistant coach Scott Arniel.
The Jets chose not to remove the interim tag from Dave Lowry’s title, and he was fired at the end of the season (26-22-6 after taking over for Paul Morris on December 17) along with assistant coaches Charlie Huddy and Jamie Compton.
Goaltending coach Wade Flaherty remains with the Jets staff, which will be filled out in the coming days and weeks.
The Jets were among the first teams to have a head coaching vacancy, but they were the 11th team to fill the position.
In drafting Bowness, the Jets are banking on his wealth of experience, with the hope that he can get buy-in when it comes to being a defensive commitment.
“I would say passion and energy. He’s been with some good teams, he’s been on long runs and he knows how hard it is, so he wants guys to enjoy coming to the rink, but he wants guys to come to the rink knowing there’s work to be done. It’s just his personality,” said Vegas Golden Knights assistant coach John Stevens, who spent three seasons on the Stars staff with Bowness. “He’s the oldest guy in the league, but you wouldn’t know it by the excitement he brings to the rink. I’m not surprised he still wants to do it at his age (67).
“We’re in a business that’s demanding and stressful and there’s a lot of expectation, but Bones has a really good understanding of that and works hard at building relationships with his players where there’s mutual respect for what’s asked of them and what they must pass to compete as athletes. He’s been in the game a long time, he’s played the game and he knows it. He does a good job of communicating with the players and letting them know where they are at.”
Arniel is a candidate to join the Jets coaching staff as an associate coach, while former Manitoba Moose captain and former Vancouver Canucks assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner is one of the options being considered to lead the defensive corps after recently serving as an assistant -coach Claude Julien with Team Canada at the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Ice Hockey Championship.
Bowness has strong ties to the 1.0 version of the Jets, having served as a player, assistant coach and head coach in the organization.
He also began his coaching career as a player/coach with the Sherbrooke Jets of the American Hockey League during the 1982-83 season.
Bowness spent parts of the last three seasons as the Stars’ head coach, leading the team to an 89-62-25 record (.579 winning percentage) and leading them to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
During his time with the Stars, Bowness was known for his ability to instill a solid defensive structure, and he was instrumental in the development of several young blueliners – including Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and John Klingberg.
That ability to connect with veterans and young players could be essential in this job with the Jets, who must find a place for Ville Heinola in a defensive corps that should also include Dylan Samberg as a regular next season.
“When we brought him in, that was his niche. We knew he was great with young defenders. We had seen him in Tampa Bay and the other teams he was with,” Neal said. “When we hired him as an assistant, that was his real strength, and he’s continued that as a head coach. It’s about how he treats people. He has a great way of connecting with them and has a great feel for that part of the game.
“He treats people fairly. He will be strict with them, but fair. They will respect it and that’s the way it should be. He’s the head coach and he’s going to have to make some tough decisions, but they’re going to respect the decisions he makes. He does a good job with it.
Bowness has also overseen the transition of a core group, as Dallas captain Jamie Benn and center Tyler Seguin have moved into more complementary roles following the emergence of Jason Robertson and Rupp Hintz and the arrival of veteran forward Joe Pavelski on the top line.
Something similar could be on the horizon in the not-too-distant future with the Jets, depending on how things pan out during the offseason.
The ability to integrate youth while getting input from veterans in the lineup is another strong area for Bowness.
“It’s just the art of coaching and just feeling when it’s time to push a guy a little bit more or give him freedom and time to pull the reins back, especially some of the young guys,” said Derek Laxdal, who spent the last three seasons with the Stars with Bowness and could be a candidate to join the Jets to lead the power play. “With the older guys, the idea of building those relationships and gaining that trust within the group, that’s the art of building a hockey club and building the culture that you want.”
Bowness was an assistant coach with the Jets in 1984-85 when Neal was traded to Winnipeg from the Boston Bruins, and expressing his love for the game is nothing new.
“It was obvious then,” Neal said. “He was there to support the players but also wanted you to get better and make you accountable for it. You could see he always had a passion. As a player he had passion and as a coach he has passion and that has never changed.
“He is very optimistic. He comes to the rink with a smile on his face.”
Bowness was an assistant coach for the Stars for parts of two seasons before taking over on an interim basis after Jim Montgomery was fired for unprofessional conduct in December 2019.
The temporary tag was lifted after Bowness led the Stars to the Stanley Cup Final during the bubble playoffs.
They missed the playoffs by four points in 2020-21 and then finished fourth in the Central Division last season and clinched the first wild card before falling in the first round of the playoffs to the Calgary Flames in seven games despite a heroic effort from goaltender Jake Oettinger.
“He’s done a great job for us,” Neal said. “He came into a situation where he was an assistant coach working with the defense, and he stepped in and took us to the Stanley Cup Final and had two more really good seasons with us, in very adverse situations.”
Bowness has also served as head coach of the expansion Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins and New York Islanders, while serving as an assistant or associate with the Phoenix Coyotes (spending 20 additional games as interim head coach), Vancouver Canucks and Tampa Bay Lightning — including five season in John Cooper’s team.
“The experience he has in working with players at different time frames, he’s dealt with every type of player,” Laxdahl said. “Even with the new era players, he’s really adapted to be able to communicate with them and build relationships.
“It goes back to the old saying, players don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. (Bowness) exemplifies that phrase and it pays dividends for his ability to get a response from his players to perform at the highest level and bring the team together in special moments.”
The Jets are coming off a season in which they failed to live up to expectations, missing the playoffs with a 39-32-11 record that left them sixth in the Central Division standings and 11th in the Western Conference with 89 points.
There has been a lot of speculation about the direction the Jets will take when it comes to personnel, with the names of several key figures being floated in trade rumors.
With the 2022 NHL Draft just around the corner, the Jets will focus on having two first-round selections for the first time since 2016, when they selected Finnish winger Patrik Laine second overall and then traded up to get defenseman Logan Stanley with the 18th pick.
But with free agency around the corner, there’s also the potential for a few trades to be made in the coming week, especially since the Jets have a glut of non-waiver linebackers (not including the aforementioned Heinola or fellow prospect Declan Chisholm). .
Bowness is expected to meet the media on Monday and you can be sure he will be ready to attack this latest challenge with the enthusiasm that has become his calling card.
While the Stars were known as a tight-knit team that didn’t score many goals, Bowness needed to have a bit more of an offensive weapon in the…
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