In many ways, though, it’s that passion and honesty that helped endear Bowness to his players almost immediately upon arrival. While CBJ players might not have agreed with the exact phrasing of some of his postgame comments, they knew it came from a good place and a deep-seated desire to win, and Bowness received extensive support from CBJ players in the days after the season.
“I’d love for him to be back, and I know my teammates feel the same way,” forward Mathieu Olivier said earlier Thursday. “I just love the passion and energy that he brings every day, the communication with everyone. It’s been really good to have him around and working with him. We’ve started to build a really good relationship with him and the coaching staff and everyone here. I’d be really excited for him to be back.”
Comments like that caught the eye of president of hockey operations and general manager Don Waddell, who made the bold move to bring Bowness – the longest-tenured head or assistant coach in NHL history – out of retirement in January to lead the squad.
The two agreed at that time that Bowness could coach the rest of this season, then discuss future plans, and that’s exactly what they did Wednesday morming. By the time Waddell had that meeting and chatted with his players, the decision was made that Bowness would continue to be the right man to lead the way.
“It’s always interesting when you do make changes how players are going to respond,” Waddell said. “Through all the exit meetings that have happened so far, every player to a man said they love playing for Rick, they respect Rick, and they were all hoping he’d come back for another year.”
Now, the next step will be to take a team that was eliminated from postseason contention the night before its 82nd game for the second year in a row and return it to the playoffs for the first time since 2020. Bowness seemed well on his way to doing so when the Blue Jackets were the best team in the NHL in his first 26 games, posting a 19-3-4 record, but a 2-8-1 ending to the season left the team six points short of the postseason.
A myriad of factors went into the struggles at the end of the year – injuries to a couple of key players, a condensed schedule, the inability to finish scoring chances and some inexperience at handling the pressure of the season’s final push – but Bowness said that all will give the team a reference point to grow from next season.
He also said he was excited to pick up where the Blue Jackets left off this year, and the familiarity the team and coach built with one another over the last three months should pay dividends going forward.
“I know them a little bit better now,” Bowness said. “They know me a little bit better now. They know I yell a lot, they know I talk a lot. But we’re a family. We are. We’re a family here, and families disagree sometimes, but then you love each other and you hug each other and you move on. That’s what wer’e gonna do. We’re gonna be a family and we’re gonna keep working and we’re gonna keep pushing ... but we’re gonna get the job done.”
That direct honesty and open communication – the ability to hold his players to a high standard while also encouraging them as well – were consistently pointed to as reasons why the Blue Jackets immediately took to his coaching style.
While he was never afraid to tell his where they needed to be better and always wanted them to know where they stood, his open-door policy and the way he sought them out on a near daily basis to build relationships also showed how much he cared and built a two-way street of respect.
“He’s the best coach I’ve personally ever had,” defenseman Damon Severson said Thursday morning. “He’s gonna be part of the solution here. I’m a big fan of his. I’d be ecstatic if he’s back. I hope that works out. I think we can do some damage with him at the helm next year.”
“You can tell he cares. You can just tell he’s a good human being. The communication is awesome. I think that’s been a mainstay comment from a lot of players and people around the organization. He just communicates well, and the other thing is he’s a good human being. ... I have nothing but good things to say about him.”
The Blue Jackets have improved in points percentage each of the past three seasons, but they’ve fallen short of bringing playoff hockey back to Columbus. For Bowness, that’s the stated goal when he returns this fall.
“I wouldn’t come back if I didn’t think we could get this team in the playoffs,” Bowness said. “I want to win.”
