Jets interview Berube as potential replacement for Bowness

The candidates are beginning to emerge, though the process of finding the successor to Rick Bowness as head coach of the Winnipeg Jets remains in the early stages.

Tuesday included a zoom interview for former St. Louis Blues bench boss Craig Berube, who helped that organization capture the Stanley Cup in 2019.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was first to report the news of Berube’s interview with the Jets.

Berube was fired earlier this season after the team got off to a 13-14-1 start and has a lifetime record of 281-190-72 record (.584 winning percentage) to go along with a mark of 27-31 in the post-season (.466 winning percentage).

The Jets are quite familiar with Berube from his time within the Central Division and he’s just two years removed from guiding the Blues to a record of 49-22-11, before they lost a second-round series in six games to the Colorado Avalanche, who won the Stanley Cup in 2022.

Berube’s name has been linked to a number of teams and the Toronto Maple Leafs are believed to have significant interest in him.

Since Bowness announced he was retiring from coaching, the expectation is associate coach Scott Arniel is the front-runner for the Jets job, though it’s obvious the organization is planning to go through a thorough process.

Given how the last coaching search went in 2022, it’s no surprise the Jets would want to speak to a number of qualified candidates before coming to a final decision.

Speaking of people with Central Division ties who are drawing interest, former Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason has been linked to the Jets as well.

Evason, who was born in Flin Flon, has an NHL record of 147-77-27 (.639 winning percentage) but was 8-15 (.363 winning percentage) in four playoff appearances guiding the Wild.

He also spent seven seasons as an assistant coach with the Washington Capitals and six seasons as the head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals (the American Hockey League affiliate of the Nashville Predators) before joining the Wild as an assistant coach during the 2018-19 season.

Former Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft is believed to be on the list of candidates to be interviewed as well.

Woodcroft, who is currently serving as an assistant coach for Team Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Men’s Hockey Championship, posted a record of 133-79-41 (.643 winning percentage) during his three seasons with the Oilers with a playoff record of 14-14 (.500 winning percentage).

Former Seattle Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol could be on the radar as well and there’s a chance he would be under consideration to be the Jets’ associate coach if Arniel is ultimately chosen for the head job.

Todd McLellan is another person True North Sports and Entertainment is familiar with, both from his extensive experience in the NHL but also dating back to the International Hockey League and AHL when he was behind the bench for the Cleveland Lumberjacks and Houston Aeros.

McLellan was most recently with the Los Angeles Kings and has 1,232 NHL games on his head coaching resume, including 88 in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

At the AHL level, Todd Nelson of the Hershey Bears could factor into the equation.

Nelson is a two-time Calder Cup champion and two-time United Hockey League champion with the Muskegon Fury as a head coach.

Nelson was the interim head coach of the Oilers in 2014-15 and he worked for Jets general manager Kevin Chevledayoff as an assistant coach when Cheveldayoff was the Chicago Wolves GM.

Nelson also has a connection to Bowness, as they worked together for four seasons on the Dallas Stars staff.

Sheldon Keefe was recently fired by the Maple Leafs, but it looks like he could be in line to be the next bench boss of the New Jersey Devils, so that would take him out of the mix for the Jets’ job.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X: @WiebesWorld