Dave Lowry is coming home to Calgary, joining the Flames as their newest assistant coach. He’s stepping in for Brad Larsen, who’s leaving the team to focus on family matters.
This isn’t Lowry’s first rodeo with the Flames. He actually wore the “C” as team captain back in the early 2000s, finishing up a solid 15-year NHL career that took him through Vancouver, St. Louis, Florida, and San Jose before landing in Calgary.
He was part of something special here too – playing in the Flames’ 2004 Stanley Cup Final run, though they came up just short of bringing the cup home.
After hanging up his skates, Lowry didn’t go far. He stuck around southern Alberta, building up his coaching chops with the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL for four years.
The Flames came calling again in 2010, bringing him on as an assistant coach for two seasons. Things didn’t quite click then – the team missed the playoffs both years under head coach Brent Sutter.
Since then, Lowry’s been building quite the coaching resume. He’s worked his way through the WHL with the Victoria Royals and Brandon Wheat Kings, then jumped to the NHL with the Kings, Jets, and most recently, the Seattle Kraken.
He even got a shot at running the show in Winnipeg, stepping in as interim head coach when Paul Maurice stepped down in 2021-22. His Jets went 26-22-8 but just missed the playoffs.
Now he’s back where it all started, ending a 13-year break from Calgary. Though it’s exciting to have him back, there’s a bit of sadness too – Larsen’s departure comes after just one year with the team. Before Calgary, Larsen had spent nearly a decade with Columbus, working his way up from assistant to head coach.
