Bowness's future with Jets remains uncertain

That the veteran head coach has essentially stepped into the purgatory stage, with his two-year pact reaching its conclusion after an excellent regular season gave way to another first-round exit, Bowness is now left to wait and see if the team option for a third season will be picked up.

David Zalubowski / The Associated Press Files

Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness' future with the team is up in the air once his two-year contract ended after the Jets first-round playoff exit.

As he took questions from reporters Thursday while taking a break from exit meetings, Bowness didn't directly say he wanted to be back, although it was certainly implied.

"Every year I sit down and I talk to (wife) Judy, talk to the kids. I will talk to (Mark Chipman) and (Kevin Cheveldayoff) and I know what I'm going to do. I know what I want to do," said Bowness. "That will come out. We will let you know."

Cheveldayoff didn't offer much clarity when he spoke a couple hours later.

"I'm not putting any timetable on anything. It's an emotional time for everybody here. An emotional time for them. We'll have those conversations and we'll update from there," he said.

Bowness conceded there was some adversity to deal with on a personal level this season, from leaving the team for a month to tend to his wife as she recovered from a seizure, before missing a handful of games later in the season to have a medical procedure done.

It's clear the fire still burns for the 69-year-old, whose Jets have gone 98-57-9 in the regular-season, but just 2-8 in the playoffs.

"Love of the game, man. This game has given us a tremendous lifestyle that we ever could have dreamed of as kids. Still love it. Still have the passion for it," said Bowness, his voice cracking.

"Listen, as I tell the players: every day in this league is a blessing. It is. We're treated so well. We're in the best league in the world. Never ever, ever take a day for granted in this league. And I never have and I never will. I just love this game. It's been my life."

"The standards that I had set for the team and myself, we didn't reach that standard. I put the onus on me to make sure that doesn't happen again. I have to get more out of the players."-Rick Bowness

Bowness made it clear there were some things he needed to do better after the Jets took the opener against the Colorado Avalanche, then lost four straight games.

"I take full responsibility for that playoff performance. I do. Our team did not play well," he said in response to a question about whether this group was built to win in the post-season.

"The standards that I had set for the team and myself, we didn't reach that standard. I put the onus on me to make sure that doesn't happen again. I have to get more out of the players. It's my responsibility to get those guys to the next level."

Using this as a teaching tool was a common theme from the dozen players who spoke, including several core pieces who have experienced plenty of playoff disappointment over their careers.

"I would say winning in this league is extremely difficult. You can have a great regular season, but it's about finding your game, finding ways to win at the most critical time of year," said captain Adam Lowry.

"We had a great regular season. We showed over 82 games we can be a really good team, but at the end of the day and we didn't perform in the playoffs, that really doesn't mean a whole lot."

It's almost as if all the positives lessons learned during the marathon that is the regular season were thrown out the window the second the hockey stage got bigger.

"It's still pretty raw. It almost feels like a missed opportunity the way we were playing, we were rolling pretty good going into the playoffs. You almost blink and it's over," said forward Kyle Connor.

"You can't believe it. I'm sure we'll go over Xs and Os and what we needed to do differently. Just emotionally, pretty devastated for sure."

AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Winnipeg Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon says he's frustrated that he hasn't signed a new contract with the team.

Defenceman Dylan DeMelo, a pending unrestricted free agent who would love to return to Winnipeg, challenged everyone to find ways to improve.

"First off, look in the mirror at my own game at what I could have done better and obviously as a group what we could have done better, so trying to process everything. This one for me stings the most out of my four years here of our playoff losses… still just trying to comprehend why — why it all happened," said DeMelo.

"If guys aren't burning fire because of that or not thinking that we all need to get better, then something is wrong."

"I want to win. I want to be a big part of this team, and obviously you want to feel wanted and like you're a big part of that. Basically, until July 1 I'm a Winnipeg Jet. Hopefully we can make it work."-Brenden Dillon

In addition to the future of Bowness, there are plenty of other questions regarding Jets players, including UFAs Brossoit, Sean Monahan, Tyler Toffoli and Brenden Dillon.

"Am I frustrated that I'm not signed as I sit here? Absolutely," said Dillon, who missed the last two games after suffering a skate cut to his hand that required 12 stitches

"I feel like I'm a big part of this team. As things progress, at this point I haven't even had my meeting yet with Chevy. We'll obviously see how that conversation goes. At this point in my career, I've been very fortunate and lucky to play on some great teams and see some guys that it's not always about going for the big money. I haven't won a Stanley Cup yet. I think that's going to be a big part of it. I want to win. I want to be a big part of this team, and obviously you want to feel wanted and like you're a big part of that. Basically, until July 1 I'm a Winnipeg Jet. Hopefully we can make it work."

Then there's the curious case of Nikolaj Ehlers, who has one year left on his contract and was asked directly if he'd like to remain in Winnipeg long-term.

"There has been no talk with Chevy so far and I still definitely have to talk to him with my agent as well, so it's not an answer I can give you right now," he said. "I love these guys. They know that. I don't have an answer for anyone right now."

AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

Winnipeg Jets left wing Nikolaj Ehlers.

Ehlers did reveal a neck issue that caused him to miss all of training camp continues to bother him, and that he won't play in the upcoming World Championship later this month because he will be consulting with doctors. Surgery hasn't been ruled out. Several other Jets, including Lowry, were also playing through various ailments.

What would Bowness have done differently to better prepare his players?

"We're coming off an eight-game winning streak (to end the regular season), so I kept telling them it's the playoffs, it's going to go up. Now they see what I'm talking about," said Bowness.

"They were a little bit awestruck there in that first game. We kept telling them that Colorado, and they knew it, is a much better team than we saw in the regular season. They just saw a team that won the Stanley Cup a couple of years ago. That's a growth for (our players). That's what we have to deal with."

As for personnel decisions or line deployment in this series, Bowness realizes he didn't hit all the right notes.

"I'm going to get criticized no matter what. If you lose, you're going to get criticized," said Bowness. "He's staying with the same lines. He's not making… and if that doesn't work and you make line changes and that doesn't go well then you shouldn't have made them. I understand that. But I'm not afraid to make decisions, and I will live with the decisions."

Bowness was asked about how he feels about where this team is now compared to when he was hired as head coach in the summer of 2022.

"So they brought me in to do what? Change the culture," said Bowness. "This organization, this team, had a bad reputation. We've improved that. We fixed that. We had to give the team a better identity that gave them a chance to win. We did that. We had to get this team back in the playoffs, because it missed the playoffs. We did that.

"We're still very disappointed we came up short. So we've made huge strides. Is there more to go? Yes there is. But those are the reasons they brought me in. We've accomplished that. But now we have to take it to the next level."

Will he be around to oversee that? To borrow one of Bowness' favourite phrases when talking about lineup decisions, "We'll see."

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Ken Wiebe

Sports reporter

Raised in the booming metropolis of Altona, Man., Ken Wiebe grew up wanting to play in the NHL, but after realizing his hands were more adept at typing than scoring, he shifted his attention to cover his favourite sport as a writer.

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Mike McIntyre

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Mike McIntyre grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler. But when that dream fizzled, he put all his brawn into becoming a professional writer.

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