The Columbus Blue Jackets made a huge shake-up Monday, announcing the firing of head coach Dean Evason and assistant coach Steve McCarthy.
In the same press release, the team announced that Rick Bowness has been hired as the 12th full-time head coach in Blue Jackets history.
“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,” President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Don 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.”
| SEASON | TEAM | G | W | L | T | OTL | PLAYOFFS? |
| 1988-89 | WPG | 28 | 8 | 17 | 3 | — | No |
| 1991-92 | BOS | 80 | 36 | 32 | 12 | — | Yes |
| 1992-93 | OTT | 84 | 10 | 70 | 4 | — | No |
| 1993-94 | OTT | 84 | 14 | 61 | 9 | — | No |
| 1994-95 | OTT | 48 | 9 | 34 | 5 | — | No |
| 1995-96 | OTT | 19 | 6 | 13 | 0 | — | (Fired) |
| 1996-97 | NYI | 37 | 16 | 18 | 3 | — | No |
| 1997-98 | NYI | 63 | 22 | 32 | 9 | — | (Fired) |
| 2003-04 | PHX | 20 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 3 | No |
| 2019-20 | DAL | 38 | 20 | 13 | — | 5 | Yes |
| 2020-21 | DAL | 56 | 23 | 19 | — | 14 | No |
| 2021-22 | DAL | 82 | 46 | 30 | — | 6 | Yes |
| 2022-23 | WPG | 82 | 46 | 33 | — | 3 | Yes |
| 2023-24 | WPG | 82 | 52 | 24 | — | 6 | Yes |
| CAREER | 803 | 310 | 408 | 48 | 37 | 5x | |
| SINCE ‘19 | 340 | 187 | 119 | — | 34 | 4x | |
In 803 career games as a head coach, Bowness has a true win percentage of just .386 — but in this case, it's important to point out that there are two different eras in which the 70-year-old has served as a head coach.
Between 1988 and 1998, Bowness compiled a record of just 121 wins in 443 games — winning only 27% of his games in that span. That includes more than three full seasons serving as the first coach in Ottawa Senators history.
After a 20-game stint with the Phoenix Coyotes (now Utah Mammoth) in the 2003-04 season, Bowness was not a head coach again for 15 years.
Instead, between 2006 and 2018, Bowness served as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks and Tampa Bay Lightning. Both teams made it to the Stanley Cup Finals with the Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada native serving on the coaching staff.
Since 2019, the story of Bowness as a head coach has been significantly different: After being named the interim head coach of the Dallas Stars in December 2019, Bowness took Dallas all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Stars came up just short against the Lightning in the COVID-19 playoff bubble, losing in six games to the eventual back-to-back Cup champions.
Bowness and the Stars missed the playoffs in his first full season as coach, despite 60 points in a Covid-shortened, 56-game season.
With a 98-point performance in 2021-22, the Stars found themselves back in the Stanley Cup playoffs, though ultimately losing a seven-game first-round series to the Calgary Flames.
Bowness, whose contract was expiring, opted not to renew his deal with Dallas.
Six weeks later, Bowness was hired as the Winnipeg Jets' new bench boss. The club made the postseason in both of his seasons with the Jets, going a combined 98-57-9 in his two seasons.
Under the leadership of Bowness, Winnipeg set franchise records for road wins (25), winning streak (eight games, 2x), and points streak (14 games).
He then announced his retirement from the Jets after the 2023-24 season, saying in part that he was not happy with the job he had done with the team.
The Jets were exiled in the first round of the playoffs both seasons.
After Bowness' retirement, Jets captain Adam Lowry made it clear that his former head coach will be missed.
"You talk about someone who left it better than when they came in, Rick embodies that," Lowry said in 2024.
Including his time with the Jets, since Bowness' return to coaching in 2019, he has a 187-119-34 record, which totals to 408 points in 340 games — an 82-game average of 98.4 points per season.
Bowness' son, Ryan, currently serves as Assistant General Manager and Director of Player Personnel for the New York Islanders. He was also an eighth-round selection by the Blue Jackets in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.
The senior Bowness, who turns 71 later in January, now becomes the oldest current head coach in the National Hockey League.
In a statement, Bowness shared his desire to step out of retirement to coach the Blue Jackets.
“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.
“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.”
