Coach Rick Bowness will miss a second consecutive game due to an undisclosed health issue when the Columbus Blue Jackets play the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 14 at Nationwide Arena, and his return to the bench is uncertain as he undergoes medical evaluation.
Blue Jackets president/general manager Don Waddell said Bowness, 71, is considered "day-to-day" until more is known. Bowness hasn't been ruled out for an upcoming four-game road trip that starts Nov. 17 against the New York Islanders, but won't travel with the team on Nov. 16 when it heads to New York.
"He's doing more testing on Monday," Waddell said. "He was actually here [at the arena] this morning for a little bit. That's a good sign. He met with the coaches and [all] that. We'll list
him like a player, 'day-to-day,' but I've talked to him a lot. He's doing OK. He's just got some things that are affecting him that we need to figure out ... the doctors need to figure out."
Bowness missed the Blue Jackets' 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 12 at Nationwide Arena. Assistant coach Don Granato, former head coach of the Buffalo Sabres, handled the head coaching duties. Granato will again run the bench against the Flyers, while assistants Trent Vogelhuber, Jared Boll and goaltending coach Niklas Backstrom will handle their usual tasks.
Waddell said the issue became noticeable recently, which led to Bowness getting checked out.
"The last couple days, he wasn't feeling great," Waddell said. "He came in Thursday morning, and we told him to go home and get rest because he wasn't 'looking great, and from there we got our doctors involved and we're trying to figure out what's going on."
Bowness left retirement to join the Blue Jackets in January 2026, taking over midseason for Dean Evason.
His prior coaching job was with the Winnipeg Jets and he cited undisclosed family and health issues as the reason he stepped down from that role in April 2024. He twice stepped away from the Jets in 2023-24 for family and medical reasons. The first was after his wife, Judy, had a seizure and the second was for a minor medical procedure of his own.
Upon joining the Blue Jackets, Bowness said he was physically up to returning as an NHL head coach and that his wife was just as eager for him to do it.
Dispatch Blue Jackets/Crew reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness to miss another game with health issue
