Some big news in Winnipeg as per Darren Dreger of TSN as the associate coach of the Jets has now transitioned to head coach with today’s news that Scott Arniel has been named bench boss of the Jets. He spent two seasons as an associate working under Rick Bowness who announced his retirement back on May 6th. The team subsequently confirmed the news.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
The Ontario product has long ties to the province of Manitoba as he was drafted by the Jets 1.0 back in 1981 in the 2nd round. He would spend four full seasons in Winnipeg before he was dealt to Buffalo. Before his playing career concluded he did play one more season (1990-91) in Winnipeg which NHL portion wrapped up in Boston the next year. He would continue to play pro in the minors including the final three seasons of his playing career with the Manitoba Moose of the IHL.
His first foray into coaching began in Manitoba with the Moose in 2000-01 where he spent two years as an assistant. He’d head to the NHL for his first role as an assistant coach with the Sabres before coming back to the Moose as the head coach in 2006-07. He’d spend the next four years as bench boss of the AHL club in Winnipeg which included a 2008-09 run to the Calder Cup Final.
His first NHL head coaching gig came in Columbus where he spent two seasons (2010-11 & 2011-12) as bench boss of the Blue Jackets. He went back to the AHL as head coach of the Wolves in 2012-13. Since 2013-14 he’s been an associate of assistant coach with New York (R), Washington and as mentioned two seasons with Winnipeg.
While Arniel wanted the focus to be on Rick Bowness during the retirement announcement, it was clear he wanted to be head coach of the Winnipeg Jets. He did spend time this season as head coach when Bowness stepped away to be with his wife or deal with his own health issues and he was 11-5-2 when he was bench boss.
Now if you’re a stickler you may say that Scott Arniel is the fourth or fifth head coach since relocation since Dave Lowry was an interim for the season he took over when Paul Maurice chose to leave his role.
He is set to speak on Monday at 11 AM which we will have covered on our YouTube channel.
Jets head coaches:
1) Claude Noel: 2011-2014
2) Paul Maurice: 2014-2021
3) Dave Lowry: 2021-2022
4) Rick Bowness: 2022-2024
