Rick Bowness comes out of coaching retirement to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets, which are performing below expectations, according to their GM.
The Columbus Blue Jackets replaced coach Dean Evason with a former retired bench boss on Monday.
Columbus fired Evason and assistant coach Steve McCarthy amid a 19-19-7 record this season, which has the team sitting last in the Eastern Conference and 28th in the NHL standings.
Rick Bowness becomes the new coach.
"This season has been a frustrating one for all of us, and the bottom line is we are not performing at a level that meets our expectations," Blue Jackets GM-president of hockey ops Don Waddell said in a statement. "We all share in that responsibility, me included, and while this was not a decision that was made lightly, it is one that needed to be made at this time."
Evason, 61, guided the Blue Jackets to a 40-33-9 record last season following the death of left winger Johnny Gaudreau, finishing just one spot out of the playoffs. He finished fifth in voting for the Jack Adams Award.
"Dean did a tremendous job last year under extremely difficult circumstances, and I thank him for that. I also want to thank Steve for his commitment to our club over the past five years."
Rick Bowness last coached in the NHL in 2023-24 with the Winnipeg Jets. (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)Bowness, 70, retired from the NHL in May 2024 after finishing third in Jack Adams Award voting in 2023-24. He helped the Winnipeg Jets finish second in the Central Division that year, improving by 15 points over the season prior.
Now, he's back in The Show. And there's no interim tag, either.
"Rick Bowness is a tremendous coach with invaluable experience and knowledge, and he will bring a steadiness to our team at an important juncture in our season," Waddell said. "He is a good communicator whose teams play with structure, are sound defensively, and we believe he is the right person to bring out the best in our group."
Bowness has served as a head coach for 802 regular-season games and 59 playoff games across 14 seasons between 1988-89 and 2023-24. He started with the former Winnipeg Jets, which later relocated to Phoenix, in 1988-89 for 28 games, going 8-17 with three ties.
After that, he coached the Boston Bruins for one season, the Ottawa Senators for parts of four, the New York Islanders for parts of two, the Phoenix Coyotes for 20 games in 2003-04, the Dallas Stars for parts of three seasons and the current Jets franchise for two.
His best record came with those 2023-24 Jets, going 52-24-6 for a .671 points percentage. His previous highest points percentage came in 2021-22 with the Stars, at .598.
Bowness became coach of the Stars in 2019-20 after they parted with Jim Montgomery. Bowness led them to the Stanley Cup final in 2020, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Edmonton during the COVID-19 bubble post-season.
Aside from head coaching duties, Bowness has also been an assistant or associate coach for six teams: the original Jets, Islanders, Coyotes, Vancouver Canucks, Lightning and Stars. He made the Stanley Cup final with the Canucks in 2010-11 and with the Lightning in 2014-15.
"I appreciate the opportunity to come to Columbus because it is a good organization with good people, and this is a team that I think I can help improve," Bowness said in a statement. "I'm thankful to Don and (Blue Jackets president) Mike Priest, and I'm really excited to work with our players and coaching staff to help get us where we want to go."
The Blue Jackets are seven points out of a playoff spot heading into Monday's action. They average the 22nd-most goals-for per game and the fifth-most goals against per game. Their power-play success rate ranks 19th, while their penalty kill ranks 29th.
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