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.
With the Jets this season, Bowness’s club set franchise records 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.
Hockey won’t be the same without you, Bones 💙 <a href=”https://t.co/7evocydmqK”>pic.twitter.com/7evocydmqK</a>
—@NHLJets
Source Agencies
