Over the test of time, the NHL has had some of the greatest coaches in sports history ranging from Al Arbour and of course Scotty Bowman. Ironically those coaches that are successful were not very good hockey players, many of which played minor league hockey. But while our sport has some of the greats, we can also say we’ve had some of the worst of all time. Lets go over some of those coaches, that lets say will never get another job coaching in the NHL. Many of these horrible coaches were above average NHL players, former 40 goal scorers, and one was the greatest player ever.
Dave Allison
Allison hired by the Ottawa Senators during the 94-95 season to coach for the PEI Senators. He replaced then Ottawa head coach Rick Bowness who went 6-13 to start off the 95-96 season. Fair to say Allison didn’t do much better, he lasted 27 games before getting fired. Reason for being canned was his 2-22-3 record, he then was replaced by long time Sens coach Jauque Martin. Allison went onto coach Grand Rapids in the AHL before being fired in his second season with the team.
An amazing stat from when the 95-96 Senators, former first round pick Alexander Daigle scored five goals with 17 points in 50 games that season, guess he didn’t cope well that year with the coaching changes.
Bryan Trottier
Poetic justice for some, Bryan Trottier was the best two centerman during his time as a New York Islander. After retiring as a Pittsburgh Penguin, Trottier became an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche. After a couple of successful seasons there, he then became the head coach for the New York Rangers. The appointment rubbed the New York Islander fans the wrong way, allot of them feeling betrayed, well that did not last very long. After winning 21 out his 54 games, Trottier was removed as head coach of the high priced overrated Rangers, replaced by current Ranger GM Glen Sather. Trot’s never coached another game after being fired by the Rangers.
Tampa Bay Lightning 2008-09
In his early years with the LA Kings Barry Melrose was one hell of a coach, leading them to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals. Two years later he was removed as their head coach but Melrose quickly found out not coaching for another 13 years was not his best decision. He was hired at the start of the 2008 season to coach the Tampa Bay Lightning and lets say he last 16 games going 5-7-4. Melrose was replaced by assistiant coach Rick Tocchet, his first ever coaching job in the NHL. He actually faired worse than Melrose, going 19-33-0-14. To say that was a miserable year as a Lightning fan is like saying you like dial up internet more than high speed internet. But in all fairness the team was badly managed by then GM Brian Lawton, that season they had one of the worst defenses in NHL history. I’ll give you an example why, veteran de-man Jamie Heward was among the first cuts in training camp, but was a late call up for the season opener in Europe, enough said.
Peter Horachek
Now granted he's not had the pick of the litter; Peter Horachek has got to be near the top of bad head coaches. He's had two chances in two years as interim coach to turn around first Florida and now Toronto and has failed big time. His Florida regard was 26-36-6; and the the Maple Leafs 1-9-1; they have scored 14 goals in 11 games.
It's the lack of in game adjustments are astounding. Example #1. Joffrey Lupul is clearly a top six forward; in his first game back from injury Horachek had him on the 4th line. Only after the opposition made it a 2 goal game with 3 minutes left did he bother adding Lupul to the 2nd line. Example #2; same game vs Phoenix; the coach inserts David Booth goalless in 18 games; 1 goal in 28 games; sits out Richard Panik 7 goals in 45 games. And the coach should bare a load of the responsibility of lack of offense 14 goals (4 in 1 game) in 11 games.
Wayne Gretzky
The Great One, was not the greatest coach. During his four years in Phoenix, the Coyotes never finished higher than fourth place in their division. The most promising season was his last year (2008-09), at the all star break, Phoenix appeared as though they were going to make the playoffs, but a late season fall and they missed the playoffs by 13 points. While #99 was certainly not the worst head coach of all time, he was certainly the most overpaid head coach of all time.
Steve Kasper
During his time as a player, Kasper was one of if not the best defensive players, his main job was to shadow the other teams best player. His success did not go with him in the coaching ranks. He had modest success in his first season, leading the Bruins to the playoffs but they had a quick first round exit. In the 1996-97 season the Bruins were a miserable bunch, mainly because Kasper was not a fun coach to play for. He was fired after his second season, winning 26 games and giving the Bruins the worst record in the league that year. He is best known for benching both Kevin Stevens and Cam Neely Jan 9, 1996, in the 5-2 loss to Chicago. “The point (Kasper) was trying to make, I understand, but I don’t think I want to say and I don’t think you guys want to print it,” said a disgusted Neely after the game.
Glen Hanlon
Hanlon has not had a distinguished coaching career to say the least. He coached the Washington Capitals for parts of three seasons. His record during this time was an unimpressive 49-84-9-15. To start off the 07-08 season, they were 6-14-0-1, Hanlon was replaced by current Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau. Hanlon has since moved on to coach Team Slovakia, but his job could be in jeopardy after a bad performance at this years world championships.
Un-honourable mention
We just do not have enough time to discuss the other bad coaches. Few others that were really bad NHL coaches, but good minor league coaches were Bruce Cassidy and Steve Ludzik. Plus no one can forget John Brophy, who coached the Leafs during the mid 80s.
No comments:
Post a Comment