Who is the greatest coach of all time?

[InfinityIggy]

There is Bowman, and then there is everyone else.

 

[These Are The Days]

It's gotta be Bowman or Arbour. I saw someone mention Shero and I have to say he's also a fantastic low-key pick. He was one of the more innovative coaches you'd find anywhere. Anyone who would put together a pointless practice exercise to see how many players are paying attention to what they are being asked to do is borderline genius.

 

[Tio Salamanca]

those Blues teams were stacked. or are you conveniently forgetting things like 99 when they won the Presidents Trophy by 9 points

Winning the Presidents trophy doesn't automatically mean you have a stacked team.

It could be, you know, good coaching.

Aside from the two H.O.F. defensemen, their roster was mediocre at best.

 

[Machinehead]

I think it's impossible to say, because a coach is only part of a team, and I think it's disingenuous how wins are considered the be-all-end-all coaching stat.

That said, Bowman has been the common denominator of a lot of winning over multiple eras.

 

[BiolaRunner]

I'm thinking it's a three way tie between Randy Carlyle, Todd Mclellan, and Torts

 

[Voight]

Bowman or Arbour. End of discussion.

 

[lawrence]

Bowman.

Hitchcock deserves some recognition.

 

[The Big Unit]

Dallas Eakins AINEC

 

[TNT87]

Bowman.

 

[Zorf]

Roger Neilson was a beauty. He would read the rule books just to find loop holes to exploit.


I took all of this from Wiki:

Among his most well-known innovations was the use of videotape to analyze other teams, leading to the nickname "Captain Video". He was also the first to use microphone headsets to communicate with his assistant coaches.
In situations where the face off was in the opposition's end and there were perhaps three or less seconds to go in the first and/or second period, Neilson would pull his goaltender for an extra attacker for a potential shot on net off the ensuing face-off. His reasoning was that if the other team gained possession of the puck, it would be virtually impossible for the opposition to score from their end in the mere seconds that were left. No other coach would consider this radical move and was indicative of his innovative thinking.

 

[tony d]

Bowman. Blake and Arbour fill out my top 3.

 

[tapi]

Lemaire

 

[The Shovel Penguin]

Another vote for Scotty Bowman.

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

Bowman is the best coach in professional sports history.

Also, I wanted to give a shout out to Tarasov and Tikhonov as well.

 

[habsgirl5000]

Michel Therrien

 

[Sniper99]

Punch Im....kidding. Bowman

 

[Apotheosis]

I mean, Scott Bowman is the "winningest" coach in NHL history, right?

Let's see, he coached a new expansion team (St.Louis) to the top of the expansion clubs (when 50% of the NHL was expansion teams) and therefore into the Finals in each of its first three seasons.

He then coached Montreal for eight years, going .744, and winning five Stanley Cups.

He then coached/managed Buffalo for seven years, with the team going .594.

He then coached Pittsburgh to its second Stanley Cup, followed by its greatest-ever regular season, going .628 in two years.

He then coached Detroit for nine years, going .655, winning three Stanley Cups and four Conference championships.


So: Nine Stanley Cups with three franchises in the post-expansion era, and a career record of (pre-Bettman inflated) .657 in thirty years behind the bench (That would be around .710 today for thirty years' total).


I'd say that's your hands-down winner, although cases can be made for Toe Blake, Al Arbour, and a couple of others. Bowman's only minor disappointment is the final game of the '81 Canada Cup, and the relative good-but-not-greatness of the Sabres after the early-80s.

But when you're the best coach in 1968 and still the best coach in 2002, you win hockey.

And this thread has been closed.

 

[Iapyi]

Hap Day.

5 Stanley Cups in 10 years.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Tarasov, duh.

Dear lord it took so long to bring him up. Did so much for his country and for hockey as well.
Tarasov is my pick as well.

 

[Born and Raised]

Jacques Lemaire

 

[dire wolf]

3 pages and no mention of Gordon Bombay yet? Now that's shocking.

 

[Alluckks]

They don't call him the "Great One" for nothing

 

[BoysofWinter66871]

Obviously Bowman. Surprised no one mentioned Badger Bob Johnson.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

North America: Bowman or Blake

Other: Anatoly Tarasov...The father of Russian hockey.

 

[illpucks]

There is Bowman, and then there is everyone else.

There is everyone else and then there is Mike Sullivan