What to make of the father-son dynamic on the Jets' bench

A common minor-hockey scenario will play out at the NHL level with Paul Maurice's replacement, Dave Lowry, coaching Adam Lowry on the Winnipeg Jets.

Video Transcript

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: Adam Lowry's father, Dave Lowry, is going to be the head coach of the team. So we're going to have a father son-- you had the father son dynamic on the bench already. But now, the key decision maker is someone's father, an important player's father on the team, which is very, very interesting.

And I don't know if it really means anything. But if you were on that team, playing minor hockey and stuff, that was always an issue. There was always preferential treatment. There was always this sense that you didn't have-- there was some bias working against you, or what have you.

And it could go the other way where Dave Lowry doesn't want that so goes so far in the other direction where Adam Lowry doesn't get a fair shake. It's a weird dynamic, and it's something that they're going to have to work through here until maybe they put a new coach in place. I think there's no interim tag. I think Dave Lowry's the guy. But maybe there is a next step as they look for something on a more permanent basis. But I guess just a thought on what could be between Dave and Adam Lowry on the Winnipeg bench.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: It is an interesting dynamic. The closest I ever experienced to that, my dad would coach me when I was playing House League Soccer. I've been coached by-- he was the assistant coach, too. I didn't necessarily feel any special treatment. I don't know, if I played well I played well. If I played bad, he'd let me know I play bad, I guess.

But I guess there's a way to make it work. I mean, we're all professional. They're all supposed to be professionals, right? And I'm sure he knows his role on the team, and I don't think that they're going to be in a position where they want to radically change that. Last I checked, the Winnipeg Jets are still in a pretty good spot when it comes to their standing in the NHL. Unless, I'm completely wrong.

But yeah, I don't see them necessarily doing anything drastic to ensure that Adam Lowry all of a sudden becomes a top flight forward every day of the National Hockey, right. I can't imagine they'd want to upset any balances that they have right now unless they absolutely need to. So I do think it's cool that it's going to happen. But I'd be shocked if we saw any crazy dynamics too. If that starts happening, that starts affecting Pierre-Luc Dubois stock, for example. Pierre-Luc Dubois' father is also in the organization if I'm correct, as well. So what if we start having dueling parenting dynamics?

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: It's a family affair here.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That's pretty much it, right. So yeah, I don't see that being that big of an issue.

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: No, I can't see it either. And it's not a shock to the system. He's already been around the team for a couple of years now. So it's probably not that big of a deal. But it is something that's completely different. We'll see if the Winnipeg Jets have more success under Adam Lowry's father moving forward here.