Report: Jets’ head coach Rick Bowness expected to announce retirement

The news comes one week after the Jets were eliminated in five games by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Dreger also reported that Jets’ associate coach Scott Arniel, who previously served as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets between 2010 and 2012, “will be strongly considered” to replace Bowness, but “all options will be discussed as part of the process.”

According to TSN hockey insider Pierre LeBrun, “Bowness was leaning towards retirement in 2022 after leaving (the Dallas Stars) but the lure to coach Winnipeg was too great for him.”

This past season, the Jets went 52-24-6 with 110 points, second in the Central Division and tied for the fourth-best record in the NHL. Last week, Bowness was named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award for the first time in his coaching career.

Born in Moncton, N.B., Bowness was drafted in the second round of the 1975 NHL Amateur draft by the Atlanta Flames. Through six NHL seasons, Bowness scored 18 goals and 37 assists for 55 points in 173 career games with the Flames, Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and Jets.

Through 14 seasons as an NHL head coach, Bowness compiled a record of 310-408-48-37 with the Jets, Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, New York Islanders, Phoenix Coyotes, Dallas Stars, as well as 28 games in 1988-89 with the original Winnipeg Jets franchise.

He also served as an associate coach with the Vancouver Canucks and Tampa Bay Lightning.