NHL playoff coaches dress for success
When Scotty Bowman coached in the NHL, he chose his sport coats and ties based on their winning percentage instead of his fashion sense.
“You didn’t worry how you looked if you were wearing something that had luck in it,” Bowman said.
The NHL’s winningest coach was superstitious to the point that he divided his ties into “winning ties” and ties he didn’t like very much because “I couldn’t win with them.”
He laughs at the memory. “One year I had a jacket that I was very
successful in,” he said. “It was just a belief. When you are not involved, it seems crazy, but when you are involved, it seems like you should do it.”
The tradition of well-dressed coaches has been around for as long as anyone can remember. Formal attire is required to coach in the NHL and coaches take the tradition seriously, even though there is no official coaches’ dress code in the NHL rules.
Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz says he owns 25 suits, although he currently only has 12 in his game rotation.
“I like the tradition (of dressing up),” said Trotz, who has led his team to the NHL’s top record for the second consecutive year. “I’m not a big suit guy. I like to be casual. But it does add to our sport. You want to stay classy, and this allows us to do that.”
Coaches sometimes receive comments about their attire, and one Twitter account rates coaches and broadcasters on the basis of their tie selection.
“I like suits and ties because it’s a business approach,” Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “But the guy I buy my suits from likes the tradition even more because you need a lot of suits.”
It’s well known in the hockey world that Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock has worn his McGill University tie for important games, including two Canada Olympic gold medal-clinching contests.
“Before my time, coaches wore fedoras,” Bowman recalled. “If you look back to the 1950s, Toe Blake, Punch Imlach and Billy Reay would all be wearing them.”
Some active coaches have celebrated that history by wearing brimmed hats at outdoor games.
“I don’t want to be like baseball managers,” Buffalo Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. “Why do they have to wear a uniform? If we had to wear a uniform, how odd would that be?”
Bylsma said he is frugal, and he still has some suits in his closet from his playing days. Although he doesn’t have as many suits as Trotz, he says he wouldn’t want to change the tradition because “coat and tie fits what we do.”
Former NHL coach Robbie Ftorek did defy the tradition in the late 1980s when he donned sweaters while coaching the Los Angeles Kings.
“I didn’t wear a sports coat, but I always had a tie on under my sweater,” said Ftorek, who now coaches the Norfolk (Va.) Admirals in the ECHL.
Today, Ftorek wears a sport coat and tie, with a thin sweater underneath the coat.
When he opted for the sweater and tie in the 1980s, it was more about comfort than anything.
“I’m not a big fan of being all bundled up when you work,” Ftorek said. “So I said, ‘To heck with it, I’m going to wear a sweater.’ I felt comfortable in it.”
Ftorek said he improved his wardrobe because fans started mailing him nice sweaters.
“I also wore sneakers, but not many people noticed that,” Ftorek said. “That was a comfort thing, too. You are walking around the bench, and going up and over, plus you are safer walk- ing on the ice.”
Ftorek’s switch to sweaters did have an element of tradition. He said another reason he did it was that he remembered late Boston Bruins coach Milt Schmidt wore cardigans that looked almost like high school letter sweaters.
“No one ever gave me any grief, other than when I took a job in New Jersey, Lou (Lamoriello) told me, ‘No more sweaters,’ ” Ftorek said.
Coaches today say they aren’t as superstitious as coaches used to be. Trotz said he picks suits based on practical considerations, such the knowledge that he might get a beverage spilled on him from the front row of the stands. He prefers dark suits and blue shirts for that reason and stays away from light coats and white shirts because of that and because those items don’t travel as well.
“I used to be more superstitious,” he said. “Less now, but I know there are a couple of ties that have been good to me.”
Blashill has coached in the NHL for two seasons, so he hasn’t been around long enough to have a large collection of go-to ties for important games.
“I have a championship tie from the AHL,” Blashill said. “If I have to pull it out, I will.”