A look at coaches who changed the game
From old-time taskmasters to bright young innovators, the NHL has had some unforgettable coaches in the past 100 years.
Art Ross: The Bruins coach, when they joined the NHL in 1924, led them to three Stanley Cups and 10 first-place finishes. He donated the trophy that goes to the league’s top scorer.
Jack Adams: The guy the NHL’s coach of the year trophy is named for. He led Detroit to Stanley Cups
in 1936, 1937 and 1943. Adams was also the tough, anti-union GM who built a 1950s Red Wings powerhouse.
Hap Day: Day won five Cups in 10 years with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1940s.
Dick Irvin: He won a Cup with Toronto in 1932, but was best known for taking three in the 1940s and early 1950s with an emerging dynasty in Montreal.
Toe Blake: The fedora-wearing former star player took over from Irvin and led the Canadiens to five straight Cups in the late 1950s, then another three in a four-year span before retiring in 1968.
Punch Imlach: Blake’s main rival as the hard-nosed coach who took the Leafs to three straight Cups in the early 1960s, then stole another one from Montreal with an overthe-hill squad in 1967.
Fred Shero: The Philadelphia bench boss who brought assistant coaches and game-day skates to the NHL took the Broad Street Bullies to consecutive Cups in 1974 and 1975.
Roger Neilson: Captain Video coached eight NHL clubs from 1978 to 2002. He was always looking for new coaching methods and ways to exploit loopholes in the rule book.
Al Arbour: One of the rare players to wear glasses on the ice grew into the brainy coach of the New York Islanders dynasty that won four straight Cups in the early 1980s.