Jets’ Arniel more interested in tribute to Bowness than his job
Three players, captain Adam Lowry, Mason Appleton and Vlad Namestnikov, were present for Bowness’s announcement.
The moment Rick Bowness retired, Scott Arniel became one of the top candidates to replace him behind the Winnipeg Jets bench.
So it was somewhat surprising to see the Jets associate coach available for questions at his boss’s farewell on Monday.
As a sendoff, though, there are few people better qualified, as Arniel played under Bowness with the original Jets in the 1980s, then worked under him as an assistant coach in Boston and Winnipeg.
Arniel acknowledged he’ll be interested in talking to Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and co-owner Mark Chipman about the sudden job opening.
“This is Rick’s day so I’m not going to go too far into this,” Arniel said. “Chevy, Mark, they know my intentions. They know what I’d like. We’ll talk more. It really is in the early stage. We’ll just let the process play itself out.”
Promoting Arniel would make for a seamless transition and a potential continuation of the progress the Jets made under Bowness the last two seasons.
He has head coaching experience, too, albeit in an unsuccessful, two-season stint with Columbus from 2010-2012.
He was also in charge of the Jets woeful penalty-killing unit this season.
“You want that next person to pick up on their own ways,” Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said of Bowness’s eventual replacement. “But obviously understanding that we need to continue what was being built here.”
The 61-year-old Arniel’s ties to the Jets organization are strong.
Drafted in 1981, he finished his playing career with the Manitoba Moose, then in the IHL, and coached the Moose both as an assistant and head coach for four seasons in the AHL.
He’s spent 23 seasons behind the bench, 16 of them in the NHL, including stints as the associate coach with the New York Rangers and Jets.
All that experience, and Arniel says he still learned something under Bowness the last two years.
“His honesty and his straightforwardness, his ability to connect with players,” he said. “I’d never (seen) it as I’ve seen the last two years. Just the way he recognizes what needs to be fixed and he attacks that certain thing that day. And he always wants to make sure that he doesn’t leave a stone unturned.
“I’ve had some great people that have helped me with my career as a coach and he’s right near the top.”
Three players, captain Adam Lowry, Mason Appleton and Vlad Namestnikov, were present for Bowness’s announcement.
Lowry says while he had
an inkling his head coach might call it a career, he didn’t know for sure until he got a call from him on Sunday night.
“An incredible communicator,” is how Lowry described him. “The environment and the atmosphere in the room … he really made sure everyone had a voice. I can’t say enough good things about him.”
As Lowry put it, Bowness took over the Jets when “the rumblings were that we weren’t in that great of a spot” and was the key figure in changing the team’s culture.
He leaves with more games as a head or assistant coach than anyone in NHL history.
“To be able to end it on his own terms, to go into retirement and to be able to spend more time with his family and not leave with a bitter taste in his mouth, but to leave with his head held up high … we are certainly going to miss him,” Lowry said.