Finding "Bones" In Scraps

If one could win hockey games on likability, Rick Bowness would have a pile of wins to his name as an NHL coach. The problem, though, is that hockey isn't played with "likes" or heart emojis, so seeing the Winnipeg Jets announce that they have a tentative agreement with Bowness to be the franchise's next head coach is a little puzzling. While Bowness has a plethora of coaching experience at a number of levels including having coached the original Winnipeg Jets at one point, his latest work in Dallas often reflected some old-school thinking that didn't quite get the results that fans and management were perhaps expecting.

After missing out on Barry Trotz, the Jets had to regroup and find a guy who could step in permanently. There were a handful of names being mentioned - Scott Arniel, Pascal Vincent, and Rick Tocchet, most notably - but not once did Rick Bowness's name come up in speculation on who would be the next head coach. With options dwindling after Derek Lalonde was hired in Detroit and Jim Montgomery was hired in Boston, the Jets appeared to be hunting for something they simply couldn't find.

Again, how they landed on Bowness makes no sense, but what made it more puzzling was not only hearing Bowness's name added to the fray, but that the Jets had a tentative agreement with the 67 year-old Bowness after what he told Sportsradio 96.7 FM in Dallas on May 26, 2022. When the hosts asked, "Would you take any calls if another NHL team needs a coach next season?", Bowness replied,

"Not right now. No. Am I going to pursue anything? No, I'm not. If somebody calls with something of interest, I suppose I would listen. But Judy and I are well-prepared to move on in life. We have a grandson in Phoenix that we want to spend more time with. So, life has changed a little bit. ... Am I interested in going to a team rebuilding? Absolutely not. If I had a shot at a Stanley Cup -- then I might have to listen to that. But that would be the only draw for me, if I had a really good chance on a team that would be really close to winning a Stanley Cup. I am not interested in any part of a rebuilding team. I'm too old for that."

Rick Bowness knows he's going to Winnipeg, right? This isn't a team that is "really close to winning a Stanley Cup" in any reality, and he should know that first-hand after coaching against the Jets last season behind the Stars' bench. The Jets missed the playoffs entirely, and don't look any closer to making the playoffs next season based on their current personnel.

It should also be pointed out that Winnipeg is farther from Phoenix when compared to Dallas, so I really struggle to understand what would prompt Bowness to forget what he said just six weeks ago. Whatever caused him to completely do a 180-degree change in his future, the Winnipeg Jets seem to be the benefactors of that decision.

Since the Bowness announcement was made on social media by hockey reporters, there has been a swell of excitement from Jets fans who believe that Rick Bowness is the right man for the job when comes to correcting the ills that plagued the Jets over last season and, if we're being totally honest, every season since their appearance in the Western Conference Final in 2018. There's some truth in Bowness being a "defence-first" coach in his mindset, but the Jets had trouble in a number of departments over the last few seasons so let's step back and really look at this imminent hiring.

Dallas's advanced stats were mostly found in the middle of the pack - not outstanding, but good enough to make a difference. That's a neither a positive or negative if a team hovers around the league average, but it's certainly better than being near the bottom of the league in those same categories. What should worry Jets fans, though, is a more obvious statistic: the Dallas Stars were the only playoff team who allowed more goals than they scored this season.

For example, Matthew DeFranks of The Dallas Morning News started his January 16, 2022 article with a line that reads, "Stop if you’ve heard this before: The Stars are looking for offense", and that should worry Jets fans when it comes to a team that missed the playoffs while scoring 17 more goals than the Stars did last season. And, for the record, the Jets surrendered just nine more goals than Dallas gave up, so the incoming coach is inheriting a team who has the same problems as the one he left. The only difference is Dallas somehow finished nine points ahead of Winnipeg.

What DeFranks concluded in his article is "the Stars' scoring at home is dependent on shooting percentage and special teams, two of the more volatile figures in hockey on the game to game basis". If you're a Jets fan, this is not what you want to see or hear about the system that the newly-appointed coach utilizes with his team. The Jets can't outscore a lot of teams based on how they played last season, the Stars didn't outscore a lot of teams they played, so DeFranks is correct when it comes to playing with fire if history repeats itself with Bowness behind the Jets' bench.

Bowness's solution was to get the Dallas defenders more involved in the play, but that doesn't solve anything if the shot selection and resulting shot percentage remain low. For Winnipeg, they saw just 24 goals from defenders last season compared to Dallas who saw their defenders score 30 goals. More shots from long distance does not mean more goals, so Bowness's solution to Dallas's offensive woes was completely off the mark, and it's likely the same issue he's going to face in Winnipeg with the current personnel the Jets have.

DeFranks also highlighted a season long issue in his May 12, 2022 article where he wrote, "The Stars have had trouble all season defending leads". Bowness is being hailed as a "defensive-minded coach" by media and fans already, but defensive-minded coaches don't gain a reputation of being unable to defend leads. No one has ever said that about Jacques Lemaire as a head coach, so the "defensive" label might be a fallacy in its nature.

These two paragraphs from DeFranks should have Jets fans really questioning how this hiring came about after everything we heard about changing the culture and how this team plays. He wrote,

"Because of their low-scoring nature, the Stars' margin for error is slim. They reduce games into coin flips by limiting odd-man rushes and chances at the net. Bad bounces or tough luck can decide games. They don't build leads big enough to withstand poor stretches and porous periods.

"Their already conservative structure becomes even shyer. Teams have taken advantage of the Stars' risk-averse approach, and the Stars have not found an answer, even after 87 games."

How much does that sound like the 2021-22 Winnipeg Jets? Bad bounces deciding games, margin for error is slim, limited chances at the opposition's net, poor stretches and porous periods, risk-adverse approach - all were trademarks of a Jets team from one year ago despite a roster that looked every bit as competitive as the 2018 team.

Like Paul Maurice, Rick Bowness has traits that will endear him to the media and fans. He's been described in a John Matisz article for The Score as "a player's coach", "authentic and selfless, and "extremely passionate about the game". There's no doubt from this writer that Bowness's greatest strength is his communication with players and his understanding of what buttons to press and when. The only issue is that we were told the last guy had those same skills, and that got us out of the first round of the playoffs just twice.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, the Winnipeg Jets might be fit for a straitjacket after having Claude Noel (good communicator!), Paul Maurice (good communicator!), Dave Lowry (direct communicator!) and Rick Bowness (good communicator!) all steer this ship. I have no idea what the contract the Jets will tender to Rick Bowness will say, but one has to think it won't be for a long-term period of coaching based on Bowness's age and Winnipeg's future plans.

Make no bones about it: hiring Rick "Bones" Bowness is a puzzling move for a franchise who talked about changes, whose players nearly demanded changes, and whose fans are expecting changes.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!