The shuffle within the Penguins' front office this summer continues.
The Senators on Thursday announced that they had hired Ryan Bowness as an assistant general manager, effective July 1. Bowness will oversee contractual-related items for the Senators and will also serve as the general manager of the team's AHL affiliate in Belleville.
"Ryan is a critical thinker whose experience will allow him to contribute to a wide variety of areas," Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said of the hiring. "His success in professional scouting along with his ability to communicate in detail makes him an ideal complement to our hockey group."
Bowness, 38, was the Penguins' director of professional scouting for the last three seasons. Bowness first joined the Penguins' organization in 2016-17 as a pro scout. He worked in the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets organization for seven years before joining the Penguins, first as a manager of hockey operations and then as a pro scout.
The departure of Bowness doesn't effect the Penguins' preparations for the draft, which is being held July 7 and 8 in Montreal. The scouts who scout prospects for the draft are amateur scouts. Bowness' role with the Penguins involved overseeing and coordinating the team's pro scouting efforts in the NHL and AHL.
Bowness' departure is the latest in a series of changes to the Penguins' front office throughout the month of June.
On June 14 the Penguins announced that Chris Pryor was promoted from director of player personnel to assistant general manager, Andy Saucier was been promoted from video coach to hockey operations analyst/pro personnel, and Erik Heasley was been named the general manager of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, adding to his role as manager of hockey operations. On June 24, the Penguins filled the vacancy at video coach by promoting Madison Nikkel from assistant video coach to head video coach. Additionally on that same day, director of player development Scott Young departed the Penguins' front office to join the Canucks as director of player personnel, and development coach Tom Kostopoulos was promoted to his previous position. Earlier this month the Penguins also hired Teena Murray, formerly the vice president of health and performance for the NBA's Sacramento Kings, to senior vice president of integrated performance.
On the business side of front office operations, the Penguins also promoted Kevin Acklin from chief operating officer to president of business operations on June 15, filling the void left when David Morehouse stepped down.
