The National Hockey League or NHL for short is the world’s premier hockey league. While it is the players that tend to get the most attention, some highly skilled coaches deserve their own accolades for the achievements they made in coaching the teams they coached for.
We thought it might be nice to highlight three of the best in the game who have retired or passed away. Their achievements are well deserving of pen to paper per say. We hope you agree!
1. Scotty Bowman
Scotty Bowman had 1,244 wins in his coaching career and is one of the most celebrated. This is the most out of any who have coached in the big leagues and is impressive, to say the least. Bowman began his coaching career with the St. Louis Blues and remained there for four years. After leaving St. Louis, Bowman made his way to Montreal to coach the Canadiens for eight years. A successful run that saw Bowman winning the Stanley Cup five times.
After leaving Montreal, Bowman found himself in Buffalo with the Sabres and in his five years with the team, failed to win the Stanley Cup and was fired from his coaching duties. Bowman then moved to Hockey Night in Canada where he was an analyst before returning to the bench with the Penguins for two seasons where he coached the Penguins to the Stanley Cup in his first year. After his second season, Bowman moved onto to Detroit Red Wings and remained there for a record nine seasons. In those nine seasons, Bowman and the Detroit team won the Stanley Cup three times before Bowman retired in 2002.
2. Joel Quenneville
Joel Quenneville has amassed 783 wins in his NHL career as a coach. Quenneville got his start with the St Louis Blues in 1996 and made it to the playoffs in each of the seven years he was coaching the team. His success with the Blues saw him making it to one conference final and winning the Presidents’ Trophy. After failing to win a Stanley Cup for the team he was let go, and in 2005 he returned to the Colorado Avalanche, a team he was an assistant coach with before accepting the head coach position with the Blues.
Quenneville remained with the Avalanche for three seasons before moving onto the Chicago Blackhawks where he coached the team to their first Stanley Cup trophy in almost 50 years. Since their first win, Quenneville and the Blackhawks have gone on to win the Stanley Cup two more times, once in 2013 and again in 2015. He is considered one of the best coaches in the league today.
3. Al Arbour
However, not all was lost for Arbour as he found himself with the New York Islanders and this is where he shined. While he failed to make it to the playoffs in the first year as head coach, they did every year thereafter while he was head coach. Arbour coached the Islanders to four consecutive Stanley Cup wins during the 80’s before he moved onto the Edmonton Oilers. Arbour remained with the Canadian team until 1986, returning for another six years in 1989 where he coached the team to the playoffs not once, but three times. Arbour had a total of 782 career wins,
However, not all was lost for Arbour as he found himself with the New York Islanders and this is where he shined. While he failed to make it to the playoffs in the first year as head coach, they did every year thereafter while he was head coach. Arbour coached the Islanders to four consecutive Stanley Cup wins during the 80’s before he moved onto the Edmonton Oilers. Arbour remained with the Canadian team until 1986, returning for another six years in 1989 where he coached the team to the playoffs not once, but three times. Arbour had a total of 782 career wins,
However, not all was lost for Arbour as he found himself with the New York Islanders and this is where he shined. While he failed to make it to the playoffs in the first year as head coach, but they did every year after that while he was head coach. Arbour coached the Islanders to four consecutive Stanley Cup wins during the 80’s before he moved onto the Edmonton Oilers. Arbour remained with the Canadian team until 1986, returning for another six years in 1989 where he coached the team to the playoffs not once, but three times. Arbour had a total of 782 career wins.