Rick Bowness is arguably one of the biggest Canadian coaches in the history of the NHL. He has a decades-long coaching career, but in May 2024, he decided to retire as a coach once his tenure with the Jets came to an end.
Fast forward to earlier this season, Bowness made a comeback from retirement in January to take over as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The team sacked Dean Evason at the moment and hired Bowness for the remainder of the 2025-26 season, thus giving him a contract potentially like an interim HC. While the squad did not make the playoffs, it appears that Bowness will continue his tenure with the team.
According to a recent report from The Athletic, Rick Bowness has agreed to a contract with the Blue Jackets for future seasons. Currently, there has been no update on the contract’s worth or duration. The news was verified after the Blue Jackets narrowly lost their final game of the season, 2-1, to the Washington Capitals.
Under Bowness, the Blue Jackets recorded several remarkable stats during the 2025-26 season, finishing 21-11-5. Despite this, there’s suspicion that the 71-year-old head coach may want to make significant changes to the team. Columbus finished the season with a 40-30-12 record, missing out on playoff eligibility.
This season’s missed playoffs stretched the Blue Jackets’ postseason draught to six years. The last time they made it through was during the 2019-20 season. Over the years, the team has struggled with the numerous changes, but with Rick Bowness in charge, there is some hope for the team’s fans.
Rick Bowness Wishes to Change Culture of the Blue Jackets
Following the team’s narrow loss to the Capitals, Rick Bowness made some promising remarks to the media. At the time, it was unclear whether he would become the team’s head coach in the future.
He also stated that if he returns, the first thing he would like to do is develop a winning culture because the team’s players are unconcerned about whether they win or lose.
According to the Athletic, Bowness said:
“I don’t know if I’m back (as coach next season), but if I’m back, I’m changing this culture. These guys, they don’t care. Losing is not important enough to them. It doesn’t bother them. How can you go out and play like that? I should have done this about a month ago. But this is why we are where we are. This is why we’re out of the playoffs, that kind of effort.”
The Blue Jackets missed the playoffs this season mainly due to their last few games. The team only won two of their last 11 games, putting them off track.
These statistics strongly indicate that the team under pressure does not perform very well. Thus, there are speculations that Rick Bowness will attempt to address all of these issues during the summer this year.
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