Photo: TSN

According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Winnipeg Jets will name former Dallas Stars bench boss and Tampa Bay Lightning assistant Rick Bowness to be their next head coach.

The 67-year-old resigned from the Stars’ head coaching job on May 20 after leading them to a a 46-30-6 record, good to earn the first wild-card in the Western Conference, this past season. The team earned averages of 2.84 goals-per-game (21st in the NHL), 2.98 goals-against per game (tied for 14th), a 22.4% power-play efficiency (11th), and a 79% penalty-killing rate (19th) during the regular season. They fell in Game 7 to the Calgary Flames in the first-round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Bowness was an assistant with the Jets for three seasons from 1985-87 and their head coach for the 1988-89 campaign.

In 639 career games as an NHL head coach with the Stars, Jets, Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, New York Islanders, and Pheonix Coyotes, Bowness’ teams have gone 212-351-48 (.391 points percentage) in the regular season but 26-23  (.531 winning percentage) in the postseason.

The Stars went 89-62-25 (.577) in the regular season and 18-16 (.529) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs under Bowness, who led them to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning defeated them in six games then.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice resigned from the position on December 17 and assistant Dave Lowry coached the Jets for the rest of the season.

The team finished eight points out of a 2022 Stanley Cup Playoff spot and averaged 3.05 goals-per-game (tied for 16th in the NHL), 3.09 goals-against per game (20th), a 21.1% power-play percentage (17th), and a 75% penalty-killing efficiency (tied for 28th) during the regular season. The Jets missed the tournament for the first time since 2017.

The Jets pursued former Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz before he announced on June 24 that he will not start the 2022-23 season behind an NHL bench.

The Vegas Golden Knights replaced Pete DeBoer with former Boston Bruins and Capitals head coach Bruce Cassidy on a reported contract that will pay him $4.5 million for five seasons. The Philadelphia Flyers hired John Tortorella, who signed a four-year contract that will pay him $4 million per season, on Friday. The Dallas Stars brought in DeBoer after Rick Bowness resigned and the Florida Panthers hired Maurice to take over for Andrew Brunette. Lane Lambert will take over for Barry Trotz on the New York Islanders’ staff. Former Montreal Canadiens assistant Luke Richardson got the Chicago Blackhawks’ head coaching job. On Thursday, the Detroit Red Wings replaced Jeff Blashill with former Tampa Bay Lightning assistant Derek Lalonde and the Bruins hired former Stars head coach Jim Montgomery to take over for Cassidy.

The San Jose Sharks, who fired Bob Boughner and his staff on Friday morning, are currently the only NHL team without a head coach.

The Winnipeg Jets and veteran coach Rick Bowness are working on finalizing his agreement to be the next coach of the Jets. This will end a thorough interview process for the @NHLJets that began with Barry Trotz as the target. Experience a key factor here.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) July 1, 2022

By Harrison Brown