Nill: Bowness has 'earned the right to come back' as Stars' coach

The challenges facing Rick Bowness have been significant this year.
He was asked to return to being a head coach for the first time in 16 years.

He was asked to take four months off away from his team and still find a way to enact change through coaching.
He was asked to make personal sacrifices by heading into the playoff bubble at age 65, spending time away from his wife and family.
And he has done all of that with class and ingenuity. Because of that, Stars general manager Jim Nill said this week that if Bowness wants to remove the "interim" from his title as head coach when the season is over, he will get that opportunity.

"He definitely has earned the right to come back as the coach," Nill said Tuesday.
When Nill asked Bowness to take over as head coach in December, the two agreed that they would talk when the season is over. One, Nill wanted to be sure Bowness was the right man for the job. Two, Bowness had to decide if he wanted to commit to being a head coach after serving as an assistant coach for most of his career.
Bowness said Wednesday that he doesn't want the distraction of talking about his job during the playoffs, and that he will stick to the original timeline and talk about the future when this season is over.
With Bowness finding a way to lead the Stars to the Stanley Cup Final after playoff round wins over Calgary, Colorado and Vegas, Nill said he is convinced on his part.
"The most important thing you see with a coach is how his team plays and they're playing for the coach and that's a real compliment when that happens," Nill said. "Anybody who knows Rick Bowness knows the quality of person he is. Then, when you go back through his résumé and his history of coaching -- if you're around that long, it means you're doing something right."

Bowness played nine seasons of pro hockey, including stints with the Flames, Red Wings, Blues and Jets. He then started his coaching career as a minor league coach in the Winnipeg organization and was elevated to the NHL in just three years. At age 29, he began a run that would put him behind the bench for more NHL games (as assistant or head coach) than any coach in league history.
While he last was a head coach with Phoenix in 2004, Bowness has been around the Stars players as an assistant last season and to begin the 2019-20 campaign, and also is familiar with just about everybody in the sport.
Nill said he runs into former players or current players all of the time, and they often take the opportunity to talk about Bowness.
"They'll say: `'Boy that's one of the best coaches I ever had. I owe a lot to what he's done for my career,"' Nill said. "That's a great telling tale about a person: Who is he is as a person probably off the ice and then who he is as a person on the ice as a coach."
The current players are giving Bowness a great deal of credit for getting the team to the Stanley Cup Final.

"Bones is a big part of this team," Stars captain Jamie Benn said. "It's been a crazy year for all of us, and I'm sure especially him to come in halfway through the year and jump right back into a head coaching role. It can't be that easy, but he's done a great job with us. He's a coach that you want to do everything for and lay your body on the line for. He's one of the best and I can't say enough good things about him."
Bowness said he was a little nervous running a bench again. As an assistant coach, he has deployed the group of six defensemen and made choices of when to play players, so he has experience over the past 30-something years. But making those choices now with the 12-man forward group did take some getting used to.
"It takes a while to get to know your players," Bowness said. "When you're coaching six defensemen, you know when they're on and how they're recovering, if they need extra time. That's the biggest thing I had to get used to watching our forwards - this guy needs a little more time or this guy is ready to go right back. It takes a little while to get used to your players, it takes a little while to get the read of who can recover quickly. Just standing behind the bench watching them breathe, watching their reaction, watching how they go back on the ice and what kind of energy they have, that takes a little time. I'm far more comfortable with that."
And because he is far more comfortable, he might want to stick on and continue to run the team as head coach next season. He could go back to running the defense if he doesn't want the responsibility of being the head coach, but players say that Bowness has been very natural as the biggest voice.
"He's really emotional," Stars defenseman John Klingberg said. "When he talks to the team, he always brings that emotion in there to get us going and to wake us up or whatever we need. He demands that everyone brings 100 percent to every game, and outside of the rink he's always there if you need something to talk about."

That's been a fun part of the transition, Bowness said. He has enjoyed being a part of a group that has done something special together, and he said that goes to Nill, owner Tom Gaglardi, and everyone involved.
"I'm just very happy for our players, for our management, Tom the owner, all the fans in Dallas and the supporters of our team, I'm just thrilled for everybody," Bowness said. "When you're behind the bench and you see that puck go in and you know you're going to the Stanley Cup Final, words can't describe the emotion that comes through."
Bowness has been a part of teams that have gone to the Stanley Cup Final, but he has never won. That's something he knows the players are thinking about, and it's something that brings them all together.
"You only get so many cracks at going to the Stanley Cup Final and you have to take advantage of it," Bowness said. "For me as a coach, it's just gratifying for the players. They've worked so hard, they've come together, we've been resilient all year."
And a big part of that is because of Bowness' aptitude and attitude. Nill was actually coached by Bowness when he was ending his playing career and Bowness was starting as a coach.

"I was fortunate that I knew him personally. I played against him, he coached me -- and he probably should have gotten me on the ice a little bit more," Nill joked. "I've watched him mature, I've seen him move on, and here he is today."
As for tomorrow, well that's a discussion for another time.
"I want to see where he's at," Nill said of the planned discussions after the season. "Like I said, he's done a great job, he's earned the right to come back. I want to sit down with him, see where he's at. We don't want that to be the focus of the team right now. We like where we're at. Rick said from Day 1: `Let's discuss this at the end.'"
It's a plan that's worked so far in his career.
"You just have to enjoy every day of it," Bowness said. "It's been a long ride … and we're not done yet."
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.