After 38 seasons in the NHL, former Stars head coach Rick Bowness is calling it quits.
After 38 seasons in the NHL, former Stars head coach Rick Bowness is calling it quits.
Former Dallas Stars head coach Rick Bowness is retiring after 38 seasons of coaching in the NHL, according to a statement released by his current team, the Winnipeg Jets, on Monday.
The 69-year-old Moncton, New Brunswick native coached for eight different franchises, including a stint with the Stars from the 2018-19 through 2021-22 seasons.
Bowness was hired by the Stars as an assistant during the 2018-19 season before replacing head coach Jim Montgomery in December 2019. He made 17 appearances in the post-season during his coaching career, including a trip to the Stanley Cup final with Dallas in the 2020 Edmonton bubble, where they fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Stars missed the playoffs the following season before returning in 2021-22, losing in the first round to the Calgary Flames in seven games.
The Jets hired Bowness prior to the 2022-23 season, while the Stars tabbed Pete DeBoer as their new head coach.
"A lifetime in hockey and obviously well-respected by all his coaching peers, but also the players he's had an effect on over their careers, especially the young defensemen in the league," DeBoer said Monday morning.
Bowness was well-known for his lockdown defensive schemes, which the Stars saw plenty of when facing the Jets. In the last meeting between the two teams, Winnipeg handed the Stars a 3-0 shutout April 11 at American Airlines Center. A Stars win would have given them the Central division title, which they clinched following a victory over the Seattle Kraken two days later.
"I recognized a lot of the (Jets') system for sure," Stars captain Jamie Benn said following the loss. "They played (Bowness) hockey, structured, defense-first... We didn't get inside enough."
In his first season with the Jets, Bowness guided the team to 46 wins and a fourth-place finish in the Central Division before bowing out in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.
This season, the Jets set club records for road wins (25), winning streak (eight games twice), and point streak (14 games). They also set a franchise record by going 35 consecutive games allowing three goals or fewer. They finished third in the Central before getting eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of this post-season.
Bowness, recently named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, is one of only three head coaches to serve behind the bench in five different decades. He joins Scotty Bowman and Pat Quinn in that elite group. He will definitely be missed by players and coaches around the league.
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