Rick Bowness is not the coach the fanbase wants, and the players have made it clear that they share the same feelings. Rick Bowness has turned an "all or nothing" season into an extreme "nothing" season and it's unacceptable that he takes no blame for it. The 2 seasons he's been head coach, have not ended in the playoffs. This petition highlights the 2 aspects of Rick Bowness that are unacceptable. His coaching style and his attitude towards the players.

First, as a coach, it is your job to organize the team in the best way offensively and defensively. He's a defensive style coach, but fails to provide adequate defense. With Elite Defenseman such as Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and John Klingberg, the Dallas Stars should be fighting for best of the Western Conference, not struggling to avoid being the worst. 

During post-game interviews, Rick Bowness has said that his system wasn't the problem, the problem was the players. Although yes, the players have issues, it is the job of the coach to fix them. This has been an issue all season and nothing is changing. If his system wasn't the problem, then he is happy that the team with the fewest amount of points in the league, scored 5 goals on a defensively centered team. This is unacceptable of the highest caliber. The responsibility falls on him and passing the blame to the players is showing who he really is.

Second job of a coach is to provide an environment that your players feel comfortable in. This is through motivation, encouragement and positivity. Rick Bowness has done quite the opposite. There are many examples of this down below.

On multiple occasions, a rookie has come up from the AHL only to play 2-5min. This is not a good coaching style as it means the rest of the team doesn't get as much rest and shows he has little faith in younger players, which is ironic since most times they look better on the ice than the veteran players. Supporting this statement is on multiple occasions, he has taken away ice time from players who have been successful. Mostly rookies who score in their first NHL game. 

One of the up and coming players Denis Gurianov was scratched for a game because he mishandled the puck once that led to a goal. However every single player on that team does the same, over and over again, and there is no repercussions. Using players as scapegoats so that he doesn't have to feel the pressure is not Leader-worthy. That's not a coach.

The Riley Tufte Situation. A rookie, Riley Tufte, was told he was going to play in a game against the Minnesota Wild, in Minnesota, in front of his family. He did an interview where he explained his excitement and couldn't wait. Shortly before the game began, he was told he was no longer going to play. His family had already bought tickets and now it was a waste. The Dallas Stars then lost 7-2 and experienced their worst loss of the season at that point. After the game, Rick Bowness commented on the situation and said that he didn't see the big deal and that they could just refund the tickets. He also mentioned that it wasn't his decision. They in fact couldn't refund them and if he isn't in charge of lines then why is he a coach if he isn't running his team. 

This is not how a functional coach operates.

You don't throw your players under the bus. 

You don't disrespect your players.

This needs to be fixed now and the only way to fix it is to Fire Rick Bowness.