Sep
27
Written by:
Norman Rumack
9/27/2009 1:59 AM
In discussing Wayne Gretzky's departure from Phoenix, a popular discussion point for hockey fans and those who make their living in the National Hockey League is that of the head coach for those going behind the bench with no previous experience anywhere. Is their anything that indicates that a former player can not succeed without having coached before ? The answer is definitely not. The results are quite varied for those who have made the jump directly from playing to being head coach in the N.H.L. Although I didn't look at everyone in this scenario, the ones I researched aside from Gretzky were Al Arbour, Glen Sather,Dick Irvin,Red Kelly,and Bob Pulford. Gretzky's overall coaching record was 143-161-24 in 328 games with a Phoenix team that obviously was not very good. Al Arbour took over as head coach in St.Louis in 1970, after having played there in the previous 4 seasons. In St.Louis, Arbour won 42 games, lost 40 and tied 25, while making the playoffs once in 3 seasons. Arbour was recruited by the Islanders as head coach in 1973 and never looked back. The Islanders went on to win 4 Stanley Cups between 1980 and and 1983. Even before that, he amazed the hockey world by leading the up and comers to a playoff series win against the Pittsburgh Penguins after trailing the best of 7 series 3 games to none. Only the 1942 Maple Leafs had done that,theirs being a Stanley Cup final, and more recently,baseball's Boston Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series.After moving into the front office in 1986, Arbour went behind the bench again in the 92/93 season with the Islanders.Arbour's team beat the reigning Cup champions from Pittsburgh, before losing a conference final to the Montreal Canadiens and Patrick Roy, the 1993 Stanley Cup winners. Arbour's teams made 16 playoff appearances and he had a winning percentage of .587 to go along with his 4 Stanley Cup championships as head coach. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall Of Fame in 1996. Glen Sather moved behind the bench as head coach with the Oilers in 1977 while they were still with the World Hockey Association. He had played for more than 10 years, mostly in the N.H.L., before he went to the rival league and retired as a player after the 76/77 season with the Oilers. He was still head coach when Edmonton joined the National Hockey League for the 1979/80 season. He won 5 Stanley Cups in 7 years, and of course, they had a roster stacked with Hall of Fame players.Sather won the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year in the 85/86 season. After moving over to the New York Rangers as President and General Manager in 2000, he coached for parts of two seasons between 2002 and 2004, with an overall coaching record in that time of 33-39-11-7. He is ranked 10th in coaching wins in N.H.L. history. Sather was inducted into the Hockey Hall Of Fame in 1997. Going way back, Dick Irvin had played professional hockey from 1916 till 1929. After retiring due to a fractured skull, he coached the 1930/31 Chicago Black Hawks to 24 wins, 17 losses and 3 ties. He was hired away by Conn Smythe to coach Toronto in their first year in Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931/32, and they won the Stanley Cup. With the Maple Leafs, Irvin took them to 6 more Cup finals and losing them all before resigning in 1940. From there, Irvin went on to coach the Montreal Canadiens to 3 Stanley Cup championships in 6 finals appearances between 1940 and 1955. Dick Irvin became a member of the Hall of Fame in 1958. Red Kelly had a spectacular career as a player, on 4 Stanley Cup winners with Detroit, and 4 more with Toronto. He won the Lady Byng Trophy 4 times, and was a 1st team All Star on defense 6 times. He became a member of the Hall Of Fame in 1969. Kelly went from playing with Toronto in 1967, to head coach with the expansion L.A. Kings the next year. The Kings were in the playoffs two years in a row.He moved on to Pittsburgh for three seasons in 1969-70, and his Penguins made the playoffs 2 of those 3 years. From there, Kelly coached the Maple Leafs from 1973/74 through 76/77, making the playoffs in 4 straight seasons and they were eliminated in the quarter finals in each year. Kelly's regular season coaching record over his career was 261-311-128. Red Kelly became a member of the Hall of Fame in 1969. Bob Pulford played on 4 Stanley Cup champions with Toronto in the 1960's. After Pulford was traded by the Leafs to L.A. in 1970, he retired in 1972. Pulford took over as head coach with the Kings in /72/73, and only missed the playoffs in that season, going to the playoffs every other year through 76/77. He won the Jack Adams Trophy in 1975. From Los Angeles, Pulford took over as Coach and General Manager with Chicago in 1977. Over 7 seasons with the Hawks as coach, Pulford won 182, lost 176, tied 68 in 426 games for a .507 win percentage. That is second to Billy Reay in most regular season games won as Hawks coach. Over his entire coaching career of 829 regular season games, Pulford won 363, lost 330, and tied 136. He was inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 1991. This is not a scientific survey by any means. However, it seems quite clear that coaching experience is not a major factor in predicting success for former players who go directly from their uniforms on the ice, to a shirt and tie behind the bench, as head coach in the National Hockey League !!!
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