Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness can sit back and relax.
During his recap of the end of the season on Sunday, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said the 68-year-old will be back behind the team bench in 2023/24. This is also the final year of his contract with the Manitoba team.
Many wondered if Bowness would be shown the exit door following statements made after his team’s five-game elimination against the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round of the playoffs. Specifically, he said he was “so disappointed and disgusted” with the overall performance of his players.
“There was no desire to take revenge. It’s the same crap we saw in February. Whenever our opponents challenged us for first place, we didn’t fight back. Here their best players were superior to ours, it wasn’t even close,” he also complained.
Bowness’ inflammatory comments were not appreciated by many of his players, including captain Blake Wheeler.
“Bowness had the opportunity to speak to us as a team. He could have been honest with us and handled the situation internally. I didn’t like how he behaved after the game,” the 36-year-old veteran told Jets Player Review.