Big news and big cleanup for the Dallas Stars
Rick Bowness has been on an NHL bench for a total of 2,562 regular season games as a head or assistant coach. He has been in the business for nearly four decades. However, that run came to an end this Friday, according to the team's announcement.
The 67-year-old coach was given a two-year contract after that 2020 final as interim head coach, and he still managed to get the Stars to the Stanley Cup Final on a postseason bubble in Canada. The Stars had 98 points this season and were ousted in the first round of the playoffs in a Game 7 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames.
Bowness has an 89-62-25 record with Dallas and many expected him to return for at least one season... In the end, that won't be the case.
The Stars will have new coaches next season, so there will be a big cleanup.
The release also mentions that the Dallas assistant coaches will not be returning.
According to NHL statistics, Scotty Bowman and Pat Quinn, both Hockey Hall of Famers, and Bowness are the only other head coaches with games in five different decades. Bowness did so with Winnipeg (1989), Boston (1991-92), Ottawa (1992-96), the New York Islanders (1996-98), Phoenix (2004) and Dallas (2019-22). He has also been an assistant for Vancouver and Tampa Bay.
