Who is the greatest coach of all time?

[The Winter Soldier]

I'll take Pat Burns. I am convinced he could make a mediocre team good, a good team, very good, and a very good team great. Plus I just loved the man. Never met him but from all I heard he was a great guy.

HM Herb Brooks, was lucky enough to meet him, and we chatted many times. His coaching of Team USA winning the gold was the single greatest coaching feat ever. He was a great man. Miss him.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Lemaire should get an honorable mention.

 

[Jepprey]

Scotty is the answer. A lot of great coaches in the history of the NHL but I always felt bowman was on another level. Impeccable tactician. Straight up out coached his opponent on a nightly basis.

Listening or reading how he views coaching is always a treat as well. His innovative thinking was top tier. He had stacked teams sure but he always got the best out of his players. I remember him joking about hardly coaching the Russians on the red wings and how he just let's them do what they want. Lol. #fakecoach

 

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

This thread should have been locked after the first mention of Scotty Bowman.

 

[Hockey4Life91]

Scotty Bowman, and it is not even close whatsoever. The fact that the first three responses did not even mention his name requires this thread to be shut down immediately.

 

[Voight]

I'll take Pat Burns. I am convinced he could make a mediocre team good, a good team, very good, and a very good team great. Plus I just loved the man. Never met him but from all I heard he was a great guy.

HM Herb Brooks, was lucky enough to meet him, and we chatted many times. His coaching of Team USA winning the gold was the single greatest coaching feat ever. He was a great man. Miss him.

He did improve every team he coached and is also the only coach ever to win 3 Jack Adams awards.

 

[vivalavili]

If this is only limited to the NHL, then sure Bowman, but if not, Viktor Tihonov should definitely deserve at least an honorable mention.

 

[glovesave_35]

I thought Bowman was the default answer. So much winning throughout so many different eras.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

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

The Blues were far from stacked when you compare the rosters they had to the one's in Colorado , Detroit and Dallas during same era

At goaltender for instance Q had aging Grant Fuhr , Headcase Roman Turek and Brent Johnson

Not at all comparable to the Mike Vernon/Chris Osgood/Dominik Hasek/Ed Belfour/Patrick Roy's of the true powerhouses and stacked teams in West during that era

 

[Plural]

I thought it's universally accepted that Bowman is the greatest coach ever.

 

[rfournier103]

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.

Not only the best I’ve ever seen, but the best I’ve ever heard of.

 

[varano]

bowman

 

[Mike Mike Caron]

Bowman, the man is still the vanguard of hockey today, he's still a step ahead everybody.

 

[Future GOAT]

Bowman.

 

[BiolaRunner]

Gordon Bombay

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Every team Bowman won a cup with also did so shortly before or after his tenure.

 

[agent082]

If this is only limited to the NHL, then sure Bowman, but if not, Viktor Tihonov should definitely deserve at least an honorable mention.

I prefer Tarasov over Tihonov.

 

[Lukin1978]

Dallas Eakins oh wait the question was the best well that answer is Scotty Bowman

 

[terry01]

Scotty Bowmanhttp://:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:/buluhidung/35/o.png

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Herb Brooks.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Splotty Blowman

 

[Fantomas]

I prefer Tarasov over Tihonov.

I'm not even convinced Tikhonov was a good coach. He always had the best talent available to him, so it is difficult to say. Many of his own players did not respect him, which is well known. He was also a complete prick on many occasions, such as when he kept Nikolai Khabibulin's gold medal from the 1992 Olympics for himself.

But Tarasov pretty much created the Soviet hockey program from scratch and was liked by everyone except for the bureaucrats. Not just a coach but a philosopher and a hockey builder.

 

[The Abusement Park]

No offence, but you need to do a little research before starting a thread like this. Q’s had some success in Chicago, but his results before that (in both St. Louis and Colorado) were pretty underwhelming with some pretty stacked teams.

Speak for yourself bud.

 

[spiny norman]

For those who mentioned Scotty Bowman, congratulations !!!