Arniel has stellar record guiding Jets in Bowness’s absence

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This article was published 20/03/2024 (564 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEWARK, N.J. — The suggestion brought a quick smile to the face of Scott Arniel — and then it was immediately shot down.

Might the Winnipeg Jets have the best “back-up coach” in the NHL?

“We’ll leave that one alone,” Arniel said with a chuckle following Wednesday’s practice at Prudential Center.

Arniel, who officially wears the associate coach label, has been at the helm for 14 games this year, with the Jets going a stellar 10-2-2. That includes Tuesday’s 4-2 statement victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Head coach Rick Bowness (34-17-3 when he’s been behind the bench) is currently sidelined with a minor medical issue that caused him to fly back to Winnipeg on Monday for treatment. He also missed 13 games earlier this season after his wife, Judy, suffered a seizure.

“I’m not sure if he was drugged up or not but at the end of the day… he saw that it was a real good team effort and he was pretty happy with what he saw,” Arniel said of a post-game phone chat he had with Bowness.

Arniel downplayed his role in keeping the good ship Winnipeg pointed in the right direction.

“We’re not changing any strategy or even our vocabulary. Our approach to meetings, games — everything is pretty much status quo,” he said.

“We just keep rolling forward and that’s what we try to do right from the very beginning at the start of the year. All of us coaches, we’re all part of everything that goes into our systems, our strategy, our meetings. Just trying not to miss a beat, try not to make things too much different for the players and they can go out and do their jobs.”

Fact is, many view Arniel as the next head coach of the Jets, the natural successor to the 69-year-old Bowness whenever that might be. He’s anxious for another opportunity after guiding the Columbus Blue Jackets for parts of two seasons (2010-12), with a 45-60-18 record.

He will run the show for a 15th time this season when the Jets face the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. It remains to be seen whether Bowness will be back by the weekend when the road trip ends with games against the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals.

The Jets held a brisk 30-minute on-ice workout Wednesday, with everyone present except for defenceman Neal Pionk.

“Just maintenance here. We will see. He’s just another one of those guys with a flu-type of thing. Just give him a day to rest at the hotel and see how he is (Thursday),” said Arniel.

Blue-liner Colin Miller, who was obtained from the Devils at the trade deadline in exchange for a third-round draft pick, is expected to return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past three games. Whether he replaces Pionk, or someone else, remains to be determined.

Laurent Brossoit is slated to make his 19th start of the season. That will give Connor Hellebuyck some recovery time following his sensational 40-save effort over the Rangers.

The Jets are currently leading the NHL in fewest goals allowed, which makes them the front-runners for the Jennings Trophy. Goaltenders must play a minimum of 25 games to qualify for the award, so getting Brossoit some additional action in these final 14 games might become a priority.

Arniel said the plan is to also try to get forwards Cole Perfetti and Rasmus Kupari into a game at some point soon, to try and keep everyone fresh during an extremely busy stretch of schedule.

“We’ll work guys in,” he said. “You don’t want to be caught in a situation where all of a sudden you get hit by injuries or different things and guys gotta get thrown in.”

Although they were thrilled with the latest effort against one of the NHL’s top teams, there was no victory lap by the Jets a day later.

“It’s too busy of a schedule to get caught up in that,” said Arniel.

“It’s the next opponent. Jersey is not out of it. They made a coaching change. They got guys that are still playing hard for positions, beat a Pittsburgh team (on Tuesday) pretty soundly. You can never underestimate any of your opponents and we have to take care of our business. We’ve got to build off of what we did the other night. We’ve got a good thing going, so let’s not take a step back.”

New Jersey (33-32-4) is six points out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot with just 13 games remaining.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg