Coaches Who Clearly Made Teams Better?

[GlitchMarner]

Which coaches can we say definitively made their teams better?

Obvious answer: Jacques Lemaire.

If they hadn't won with the neutral zone trap, the Devils might have eventually won the Cup anyway with a core of Brodeur, Niedermayer and Stevens.

But the Minnesota Wild would have stood no chance at getting as far as they did in 2003 if it hadn't been for their stifling defensive play in 2003 (a playoff year that may have been the apex of the style of play that Lemaire ushered in with New Jersey).

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[McGarnagle]

Mike Keenan fits here, in short bursts. He came in wherever he went and got his teams busting their asses. After about a year they get sick of the mind games and manipulation and he loses the room. But for that first year, he got his teams going hard.

 

[MadLuke]

The turn around but do not last type of coach are clearer in that regard.

Ken Hitchock

Jumped from 66 pts to 104 his first full season with the stars

Flyers went from 97 to 107 pts when Hitchcock arrive, Colombus rapidly made the playoff.
St Louis went from 87 to 109 pts.

I would be curious how often an Hitchcock team flirted with being top 10% defensively in the league

 

[Brodeur]

Which coaches can we say definitively made their teams better?

Obvious answer: Jacques Lemaire.

Another tidbit for the Lemaire bucket was him coming in as an interim coach in 2010-11. John MacLean had been promoted to head coach to replace Lemaire but was in over his head (and also was given a tough hand with blue line injuries). Lemaire did Lou a favor and came back for a few months to right the ship.

MacLean: 9-22-2
Lemaire: 29-17-3

I think Lemaire noted how badly out of shape the team was when he came back.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I think the trappy coaches are a bit overrated personally. It's just that the "system" is so visible and makes it easy to specifically point to them and give credit, whereas well thought offensive systems tend to result in credit that gets passed around to the star players.

 

[seventieslord]

It was often said that Fred Shero's flyers had two great players (Clarke, Parent) and he made them a great team.

 

[buffalowing88]

Lindy Ruff has taken three different teams and turned them playoff caliber in a handful of years. He tends to get outcoached as the playoffs go on, but if you're just trying to point the franchise towards competency, he's been able to do it consistently. Hence why I want the Sabres to bring him back. Ruff = relevance.

 

[Mandar]

It was often said that Fred Shero's flyers had two great players (Clarke, Parent) and he made them a great team.

Agree on this. And dont forget....his first season with the Rangers, he made them into a 90+ point team and went to the finals (in '79)

 

[GlitchMarner]

Lindy Ruff has taken three different teams and turned them playoff caliber in a handful of years. He tends to get outcoached as the playoffs go on, but if you're just trying to point the franchise towards competency, he's been able to do it consistently. Hence why I want the Sabres to bring him back. Ruff = relevance.

He had a generally good tenure in Buffalo, but didn't fans want him gone toward the end of his run there?

He was there for a long time. Sometimes it's just time for a change. But the team hasn't exactly prospered since he left... lol.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Fans are the worst judges of coaches.

(Which I'm saying not at the OP, but at the last post, "didn't fans want him gone..." - fans almost always want a coach gone after the honeymoon period. That's rarely a good indictor of the job he's doing)

 

[buffalowing88]

He had a generally good tenure in Buffalo, but didn't fans want him gone toward the end of his run there?

He was there for a long time. Sometimes it's just time for a change. But the team hasn't exactly prospered since he left... lol.

Oh yeah, he had definitely overstayed his time by that point and with that core that was left. The team never really recovered after losing the co-captains in 2007 and Ruff probably should have left around the same time.

I'm just referencing his abilities to make teams competitive. It's not everyday that a coach does that for three teams in his career. I'm just hoping he can do it one more time with the Sabres and then move into a FO role once we get the monkey off our back.

He consistently was out-performed by better coaches in the playoffs, but he can get a team to the playoffs and that's all I want haha.

 

[Crosby2010]

I am going to say Grapes for starters with the late 1970s Bruins comes to mind, the lunchpail gang who got 11 players with 20 or more goals.

No one said Jacques Demers yet? Definitely with Detroit he improved those teams and then the Habs in 1993 winning the Cup comes to mind. By the way, how on earth that guy could hide not being able to read for so long and become so successful is actually impressive.

I am thinking John Torts can be named here

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

He's not the top of the list but Claude is worth a mention.

He got more out of the pre lockout Habs teams than most would, helped lead the Bruins turnaround, got fired in 1st place in Jersey and again got the late 2010s Habs to overachieve

 

[GlitchMarner]

Torts will be remembered for being a character, but time will tell if he'll be considered a good or successful coach.

In TB he was successful. He took a disaster of a team that had some talent and he coached the team to the playoffs and then to a Cup. He implemented a successful system. If I remember correctly, it was aimed at causing turnovers before teams gained the red line and could dump the puck in. This was in a time where team were typically sitting back further and forcing teams to dump the puck in. Tampa had that "safe is death" motto in that era. He was smart in that he imposed structure but also encouraged his best players to play to their strengths.

Then it gets kind of... weird. In NYR he was different. He became obsessed with shot blocking, Brad Richards went there to play for him, only to end up in his dog house. Richards did have a good first year with the team and a strong playoff run. They won the East in 2012 and were two wins short of reaching the SCF.

His stint in Vancouver was basically a disaster.

He goes to Columbus and doesn't like Johansen and then is hard on PLD for not competing hard enough (can't really blame him for that). The Jackets weren't too bad under him. They did have that 16 game winning streak one year and made the playoffs a few times IIRC.

Now he's coaching Philly. He scratched Couturier early in the season and then the Flyers did better than expected by being in the playoff hunt late. They did come undone toward the end of the season and there was that whole empty net situation (don't think you can really fault him for that).

 

[Michael Farkas]

Claude Julien is a really good choice.

I'm not sure about Don Cherry actually...I have reservations about him tactically. I think I need more information there.

Tortorella is an absolute no brainer. He should be in this thread.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Then you have guys like Babcock and Carlyle. I'm not a big fan of either because of their time in Toronto. I know both had success elsewhere, but they had a lot of talent to work with.

In Toronto Carlyle took a team that was flawed in construction and basically accentuated the team's weaknesses with his system. They didn't have a real number one defenseman (Dion Phaneuf was the closest they had). Their best player offensively was a one-dimensional scoring winger (whom I love TBH). They had a smallish undrafted player as a first line centre.

In 2013 they were a fun team to watch because they scored a good amount and had some depth guys (McLaren, Orr, Fraser etc) who were aggressive and physical. But their defensive metrics were bad. That was the case the next two seasons as well. They managed to be in the playoff race or even in playoff spots despite having terrible underlying numbers until the bottom fell out in each season. They would be outshot routinely and other teams would cycle them to death and they couldn't do a damn thing about it.

Babcock got exposed in Toronto, I'd say. The first year I didn't mind him (like Carlyle) because the team's culture and identity were changed in a refreshing way. But then he got some talent and didn't do anything special. The team's done better under Keefe than it did under him and Keefe was never considered one of the best coaches in the League.

 

[carjackmalone]

Roger Nelson Canucks 81-82

Takes over with 8 games left in season team goes undefeated

Playoffs vs Calgary 3-0 sweep
LA-4-1 series win
Chicago 4-1 series win
Long Island 0-4 series loss

 

[Nick Hansen]

What do people think about Trotz, Darryl Sutter and Laviolette in this regard?

Was it Leighton who was the starter for the Flyers 2010 finals team?...

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

What do people think about Trotz, Darryl Sutter and Laviolette in this regard?

Was it Leighton who was the starter for the Flyers 2010 finals team?...

Laviolette is a great call

 

[The Panther]

Even he seems like kind of a dick on a personal level, I think Paul Maurice deserves mention here. We maybe don't think of him that way because he's had two super long runs with two franchises (Hartford / Carolina and Winnipeg). But he generally makes teams better and competitive for a long time, and doesn't get fired quickly.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Pat Burns

 

[Primary Assist]

Since the thread isn't specific to the NHL, Herb Brooks is a perfect fit here. The Miracle on Ice doesn't happen without him behind the bench.

The whole Soviet coaching system during the Iron Curtain era also deserves a mention. The Russians were certainly very talented, but they were absolute machines in large part to the coaching, organizational, and yes societal structures

 

[PDX Flyer]

It was often said that Fred Shero's flyers had two great players (Clarke, Parent) and he made them a great team.

He was an innovative coach but Parent is the reason they won two Cups when he returned. Without Parent, they are not winning a Cup. See 1976.

Also, they had HOF Barber and Rick MacLeish is one of the most underrated player of all time. They had some pretty good players.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Maybe it was Shero, and that's why they got to the Final in '76. Or the fact that was the only time they had to go through Montreal and we would have been spared of two Flyers Cups if Dryden was a little less academic...

Shero then took the '79 Rangers all the way to the Final with old Esposito and bunch of...stuff...

Parent was 0-5 as a pro in playoff series without Shero as coach, for whatever that's worth.

 

[The Macho King]

Then you have guys like Babcock and Carlyle. I'm not a big fan of either because of their time in Toronto. I know both had success elsewhere, but they had a lot of talent to work with.

In Toronto Carlyle took a team that was flawed in construction and basically accentuated the team's weaknesses with his system. They didn't have a real number one defenseman (Dion Phaneuf was the closest they had). Their best player offensively was a one-dimensional scoring winger (whom I love TBH). They had a smallish undrafted player as a first line centre.

In 2013 they were a fun team to watch because they scored a good amount and had some depth guys (McLaren, Orr, Fraser etc) who were aggressive and physical. But their defensive metrics were bad. That was the case the next two seasons as well. They managed to be in the playoff race or even in playoff spots despite having terrible underlying numbers until the bottom fell out in each season. They would be outshot routinely and other teams would cycle them to death and they couldn't do a damn thing about it.

Babcock got exposed in Toronto, I'd say. The first year I didn't mind him (like Carlyle) because the team's culture and identity were changed in a refreshing way. But then he got some talent and didn't do anything special. The team's done better under Keefe than it did under him and Keefe was never considered one of the best coaches in the League.

My hot take is the Red Wings only winning one Cup post lockout should be a mark of shame on Babcock - instead he got lionized.