Jets head coach Bowness retiring after franchise record-tying 52-win ...

Darren Bernhardt · CBC News

· Posted: May 06, 2024 11:21 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago

Rick Bowness has retired from coaching in the NHL after 38 seasons.

The Winnipeg Jets head coach led the team to a 98-57-9 record during his two seasons as head coach en route to a pair of Stanley Cup Playoffs appearances.

He is also a finalist for this season's Jack Adams Award, which honours "the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success."

The 69-year-old native of Moncton, N.B., has coached for eight different franchises and was behind the bench for 17 playoff appearances, including trips to the finals as an associate coach with the Vancouver Canucks in 2011, as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2015, and as Dallas Stars head coach in 2020.

He is one of only three head coaches (along with Scotty Bowman and Pat Quinn) to serve behind the bench in five different decades.

His 2,726 games as an NHL coach are the most by anyone in league history.

Under his leadership, the Jets set franchise records this season for road wins (25), winning streak (eight games, twice), and points streak (14 game).

The team also set a franchise record by going 35 consecutive games allowing three goals or fewer. During that stretch, they also set a club record with a 14-game run without allowing more than two goals.

Their 52 wins matched the franchise record set in 2017-18.

Bowness originally signed a two-year contract with the team in July 2022. A third year was a club option.

At last week's season-ending meeting with reporters, he was asked about his intentions for the 2024-25 season and said he had already talked with his family and would be meeting with Jets brass.

"I know what I'm going to do," he said. "I know what I want to do, that'll come out."

He was away from the team twice this season because of a seizure his wife experienced last October and then his own minor medical procedure in March.

Bowness and Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff are expected to speak with reporters later in the day in Winnipeg to discuss Bowness' retirement.

It was not immediately clear if associate coach Scott Arniel, who filled in for several games this season when Bowness was away for personal reasons, would be considered as a potential successor.