Rick Bowness was on a boat.
More: Columbus Blue Jackets, Rick Bowness focused solely on the present
Cruising the Florida Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale with his wife, Judy, the 70-year-old former NHL coach was the picture of retirement. Then, he received a text message Jan. 12 from Don Waddell, a longtime acquaintance and president/general manager of the Blue Jackets.
Advertisement
Bowness told his wife that Waddell probably wanted to talk before agreeing to acquire a former player of his in a trade, but the Jackets’ GM instead offered a job. Head coach. He smiled and glanced at Judy.
“Wait until you hear this one,” he said.
Waddell, speaking at a mid-day press conference on Jan. 13 at Nationwide Arena, relayed that Bowness needed just a few seconds to reply, “I’m in … let me just run it by my wife.”
And that’s how one of the NHL’s most experienced coaches went from happily retired, cruising through life on a boat, to answering questions in Columbus in the span of 24 hours, hair tousled and voice raspy after coaching the Blue Jackets to a 5-3 victory over the Calgary Flames.
Advertisement
“I love it,” Bowness said.
Even losing his voice?
“Yeah,” he said. “I talk a lot.”
Blue Jackets players confirmed that part, saying it was different having the head coach in their ears all game, often individually, but that’s the part of the Bowness wanted to experience again. After getting through his and his wife’s unspecified health issues, which prompted his retirement with the Winnipeg Jets in 2024, Bowness is back in the NHL coaching realm.
“I love it,” he said. “I just love it. It’s why I came back. It’s what I missed the most. When I was out a year-and-a-half, the thing I missed most was the interaction with the players, and I love that part of coaching … working with the players and talking with the players and helping them get better. The second part is that I love being behind the bench.”
“When I was out a year-and-a-half,” Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said of ending his retirement, “the thing I missed most was the interaction with the players.”
So, here we go.
Advertisement
A season that began with Dean Evason coaching the Blue Jackets continues without him in that role, replaced by a guy with similar energy who says a lot of the same things about successful hockey teams. Will this coaching jolt get the Blue Jackets back on track? Is there enough runway left to rejoin the playoff race? What’s in store for Bowness and the Blue Jackets beyond this season?
Time will answer those questions.
In the meantime, there are 35 games left for the Blue Jackets (20-19-7) to close a six-point gap in the race for the second wild card in the NHL’s Eastern Conference, a.k.a. the last playoff ticket. There are also seven teams to leapfrog, but Bowness’ first Blue Jackets win has already moved them past the New York Rangers, the new last-place team in the conference and Metropolitan Division.
That’s a decent start, so who’s to say miracles can’t happen in Columbus? Ahoy!
Advertisement
Here are three takeaways from Bowness’ debut:
Blue Jackets center Boone Jenner fights Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson.
Columbus Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner gets first ‘Gordie’ while dousing Calgary Flames
Boone Jenner isn’t an enforcer, per se, but he’s the type of power forward who can do a little bit of everything, including fight.
So, it was no surprise that a slash to the back of his legs following a whistle led to a donnybrook between the Jackets’ captain and Flames defenseman/irritant Rasmus Andersson. The surprise landed after the game, when Jenner revealed that he had just registered his first Gordie Howe hat trick (a goal, assist and fight in the same game).
Advertisement
Following the fight, Jenner added the goal with 1:34 left to play for a 4-3 lead, and the assist came on Charlie Coyle’s insurance tally into an empty net.
“That’s the Boone Jenner I remember coaching against for a long time,” Bowness said. “Boone … I love watching him play. I’m glad I’m coaching him, because he’s a hard guy to play against because he doesn’t quit.”
Blue Jackets center Charlie Coyle had his first two-goal game of the season in a 5-3 win over the Flames.
Columbus Blue Jackets shoot with accuracy against Calgary Flames
The four goals that preceded Coyle’s empty-netter were scored with wrist shots past undersized Flames goalie Dustin Wolf.
Wolf, like Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves, is listed at 6 feet tall and might actually measure a tick under that mark. That means there’s space to shoot above his shoulders when he drops into a butterfly position on his knees.
Advertisement
Coyle had the first two-goal game of his Blue Jackets tenure; and he Jenner, Dante Fabbro and Zach Werenski all beat Wolf under the crossbar and over his glove and blocker. Coyle also screened Wolf for goals by Fabbro from the blue line and Werenski from the top of the left circle.
Blue Jackets center Kent Johnson shoots past Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson.
Coach Rick Bowness unleashes Columbus’ Kent Johnson, Dante Fabbro
Fabbro, who’d been locked in Evason’s proverbial doghouse, reunited with Werenski on the Blue Jackets’ top defensive pairing with Denton Mateychuk (upper-body injury) and Damon Severson (illness) out. Fabbro skated 21:02, gave the Jackets a 1-0 lead early in the game and finished with one of his best performances.
Advertisement
Kent Johnson did the same on the top forward line, logging a season-high 20:55 on 22 shifts. Johnson, who also struggled to exit Evason’s doghouse, forced a late turnover by Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar that led to Jenner’s winning goal.
“He deserved those minutes,” Bowness said. “He played hard. He’s not the biggest guy, but he competed. … and he’ll keep those minutes as long as he keeps playing like that.”
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Rick Bowness wins Columbus Blue Jackets coaching debut: Takeaways