Scott Arniel filled in as an interim coach during the past two seasons when Rick Bowness was away from the team. He is now the fourth head coach in Jets 2.0 history.
The Winnipeg Jets have chosen their next coach, and it's a familiar face.
Scott Arniel is now the ninth coach in franchise history and the fourth since the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg, the team announced Friday afternoon.
Arniel, 61, replaces Rick Bowness, who retired after the Jets were eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Bowness was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award this season as the NHL's coach of the year.
But Bowness did have to be away from the team twice during this season for family and health reasons, and Arniel, the Jets' associate coach, filled in as interim coach during that time. He also filled in for Bowness briefly last season.
As The Hockey News' Winnipeg Jets site editor Carter Brooks noted, the hiring comes after a lengthy interview process. TSN/The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun reported the Jets interviewed Todd McLellan last week among other top candidates.
This will be Arniel's second full-time head coaching position in the NHL and his first in more than a decade. The Kingston, Ont., native coached parts of two seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2010 to 2012, amassing a 45-60-18 record. But he saw better results during his interim role with Winnipeg, amassing a 15-7-3 record.
Arniel played parts of six seasons with the original Winnipeg Jets as well, with his career-high 56 points in 80 games coming in 1983-84. -
What's the Initial Reaction?
It doesn't come as a huge shock that the Jets promoted Arniel, considering the team finished third overall in the NHL and was a stingy defensive team.
But as Jacob Stoller says, this could have also been an opportunity for the Jets to look elsewhere, perhaps at a Dean Evason or a McLellan, who could bring a different perspective to the club. Here's more:
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