Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
Exit meetings for the Jets just concluded on Thursday and the status for next season remains up in the air as it pertains to head coach Rick Bowness and whether he returns for a club option third season as the bench boss in Winnipeg, but today it was revealed that he was named a Jack Adams Award finalist alongside Andrew Brunette of the Predators and Rick Tocchet of the Canucks for Coach of the Year.
From the Jets Release:
Bowness, 69, is in his second season as head coach of the Jets and led the club to a 52-24-6 record, their 110 points were second-highest in the Western Conference and fourth-most in the NHL. The club also set a franchise record with 25 road wins during the season. Winnipeg led the league and won the William M. Jennings Trophy with 199 goals allowed during the regular season.
The Jets set a franchise record by going 35 consecutive games allowing three goals or fewer (Nov. 4/23-Jan.20/24). During that stretch, they also set a club record with a 14-game run without allowing more than two goals (Dec. 20/23-Jan. 20/24). Winnipeg also set the franchise records for longest winning streak (eight games, twice: Dec. 30/23-Jan. 11/24 and Apr. 1-18/24) and longest point streak (14 games: 12-0-2 from Dec. 13/23-Jan.11/24).
The Jets posted the most wins in franchise history in the first half of an 82-game season with 28 and matched their record for most regular season wins (52). Winnipeg allowed just 94 goals against in the first half, which was also a franchise record. This was Bowness’ second straight season leading the Jets to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Interesting TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger indicated yesterday that he thinks Rick Bowness chooses retirement next season rather than a return to coaching but regardless of his decision this is a nice feather in the cap for the veteran coach.
He said in his chat with us yesterday “Every year I sit down and talk to Judy, talk to the kids, I’ll talk to Chipper and Chevy. I know what I’m going to do, I know what I want to do, but that will come out.” The follow-up to this was “so in a perfect world you’ll be back” to which he responded “We’ll let you know.”.
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