
According to Tyler Kuehl of Daily Faceoff on Saturday, the Winnipeg Jets have named Scott Arniel of Kingston, Ontario as their new head coach. This is Arniel’s second National Hockey League head coaching job. He was previously with the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2010 to 2012.
With Columbus, Arniel had a record of 45 wins, 60 regulation losses, and 18 losses in extra time. He was replaced by Todd Richards during the 2011-12 season.
In Winnipeg, Arniel replaces Rick Bowness of Moncton, New Brunswick, who retired from coaching on May 6 at the age of 69. It should be noted that even though Arniel was an associate coach for the Jets this past season, he did spend sometime as the Jets head coach as Bowness left the team for a medical procedure, and attended to his wife who had a seizure.
In all, Arniel was an associate coach the last two seasons for Winnipeg. He also spent three seasons coaching the Buffalo Sabres from 2002 to 2006, five seasons as an associate coach for the New York Rangers from 2013 to 2018, and four seasons with the Washington Capitals as an assistant coach from 2018 to 2022.
As a player, Arniel was a left winger for 11 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1981 to 1992. He was with the Winnipeg Jets from 1981 to 1986, and again from 1990-91. Arniel was also with the Buffalo Sabres from 1986 to 1990, and the Boston Bruins from 1991 to 1992. In 730 regular season games, he had 149 goals and 189 assists for 338 points. Arniel was also a -11 with 599 penalty minutes, 39 power-play points, 11 shorthanded points, 19 game-winning goals, and 1087 shots on goal.