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Bowness, 69, was named a Jack Adams Award
finalist this season for the first time in his 14 years as a
head coach.
"Hockey won't be the same without your, Bones," the Jets posted
on X.
At a press conference Monday, Bowness explained that he'd always
heard from older coaches in the business that he would know when
the time was right to retire.
"And when I was looking around (after losing to Colorado) ... I
wasn't happy with the job I had done," Bowness said. "It just
hit me then, like, ‘It's time.'
.".. I told the coaches an hour later that I'm done, I'm
finished, I'm going to retire. They're all looking at me, ‘You
sure? You want to take some time on this?' But I knew. I knew in
my heart it was time."
Bowness is 310-408-37 (48 ties) in 803 career games with seven
different teams, including Winnipeg twice. His first stint as
head coach came in 1988-89 with the original Jets franchise
after they fired Dan Maloney. Bowness went 8-17-3 as interim
head coach.
Bowness led the Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020 as
interim head coach. The Stars lost to Tampa Bay in six games. He
also coached the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, New York
Islanders and Phoenix Coyotes.
He led the Jets to a second-place finish in the Central Division
this season, a 15-point improvement from last year. Bowness went
98-57-9 in two seasons back with Winnipeg, where he also
finished his NHL playing career in 1981.
"(My wife) Judy and I were all set to call it a day (two years
ago), but if I was going to come back to coaching, I couldn't
have picked a better place to come back to and to finish my
career," Bowness said. "I'm just disappointed that I didn't get
this team further. That's my biggest disappointment and that's
something I'm going to have to live with."
He is one of three NHL coaches, with Scotty Bowman and Pat
Quinn, to serve behind the bench in five different decades.
As a forward, Bowness recorded 55 points (18 goals, 37 assists)
in 173 NHL games from 1975-81 with the Atlanta Flames, Detroit
Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and Jets.
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