Big Phil
Registered User
- Nov 2, 2003
- 31,703
- 4,144
I guess 2019-'20 is the year of the coach getting fired, so it inspired me to do this thread. I don't have the stats handy, but if I recall 1998 was the year where half of the coaches got fired during the season or at the end of it. It was pretty rare.
Okay, so who didn't deserve it?
Bill Barber 2002 - He got the axe a year after winning the Jack Adams trophy for coach of the year. Okay, it is true his Flyers lost in 5 games to the Sens and were as offensively starved as almost any team in NHL history in a playoff round. They scored a grand total of 2 goals. Only one of them in regulation. I have heard he wasn't very good at having the team practice the power play and maybe he wasn't a great coach overall, but I do remember Keith Primeau of all people being someone that made some complaints out of him that may have caused him to get the pink slip. I mean, Primeau? A career playoff bust, and in this playoffs he had 0 points. Roenick had 0 as well. Gagne, Recchi.......0 points. Adam Oates had two assists and he was the only one with more than a point. So that's got to fall on the players too. Lastly, his old buddy Bobby Clarke gave him the axe and while I realize it is all business his wife Jenny of 30 years had died during that season. Ouch.
Gerard Gallant 2020 - Sure it just happened this year, but that was rough. Two years after leading an expansion team to the Cup final (when will that happen again?) and even so when he got fired the team was in 1st in their division. Was there just bad blood from the 2019 loss?
Pat Quinn 2006 - Maybe the game was passing him by? Perhaps. But this was clearly to prolong a horrible GM in John Ferguson Jr.'s job. The Leafs weren't even that bad in 2006, just barely missing the playoffs. They didn't make it again until 2013.
Marc Crawford 1998 - It was an ugly loss to the Oilers, blowing a 3-1 series lead, but it was just that - an upset. It happens. This team was right in the mix before and after Crawford. I am not a fan of the guy, I still get reminded of the Nagano Olympics from time to time, but should he have gotten the pink slip or was there more to it?
Roger Neilson 1979 - Was fired in March of 1979 by Harold Ballard, although not to his face. Neilson was on the plane with the team when he was informed about it. Ballard had no one to replace him so eventually he asked Neilson to come back but wanted to have him wear a bag over his head prior to the game so that the fans could have a surprise as to who was coaching. Neilson didn't do this, but got the job back anyway. At the end of the season Neilson was fired for real despite an impossible situation for any coach.
Don Cherry 1979 - Nothing wrong with losing to the dynasty Habs, even if it was repeatedly. The Bruins waited a decade to get to the Cup final again.
Randy Cunneyworth 2012 - If you can't speak much French in Montreal then that will be a problem from the get go, I get that, but why even hire him in the first place? Perhaps the Habs should broaden their pool of talent to choose from. They've fired Michel Therrien twice and are almost certainly going to fire Claude Julien for a second time as well. Did Scotty Bowman, Toe Blake and Dick Irvin know a lot of french? Because if they didn't do you really take back those Cups?
Bill Peters 2019 - The power of social media I guess. Should we get used to a coach getting fired over a tweet on Twitter? No, it wasn't right what Peters said when he lashed out at Akim Aliu, but it was 10 years ago, on a different team, in a different league and is no one allowed to learn from their actions and grow anymore? I don't want to turn this into a debate, but you should never get fired from your current job based on something that didn't even happen there. Not to mention he led them to a 107 point season the year prior. It just left a bad taste.
Okay, so who didn't deserve it?
Bill Barber 2002 - He got the axe a year after winning the Jack Adams trophy for coach of the year. Okay, it is true his Flyers lost in 5 games to the Sens and were as offensively starved as almost any team in NHL history in a playoff round. They scored a grand total of 2 goals. Only one of them in regulation. I have heard he wasn't very good at having the team practice the power play and maybe he wasn't a great coach overall, but I do remember Keith Primeau of all people being someone that made some complaints out of him that may have caused him to get the pink slip. I mean, Primeau? A career playoff bust, and in this playoffs he had 0 points. Roenick had 0 as well. Gagne, Recchi.......0 points. Adam Oates had two assists and he was the only one with more than a point. So that's got to fall on the players too. Lastly, his old buddy Bobby Clarke gave him the axe and while I realize it is all business his wife Jenny of 30 years had died during that season. Ouch.
Gerard Gallant 2020 - Sure it just happened this year, but that was rough. Two years after leading an expansion team to the Cup final (when will that happen again?) and even so when he got fired the team was in 1st in their division. Was there just bad blood from the 2019 loss?
Pat Quinn 2006 - Maybe the game was passing him by? Perhaps. But this was clearly to prolong a horrible GM in John Ferguson Jr.'s job. The Leafs weren't even that bad in 2006, just barely missing the playoffs. They didn't make it again until 2013.
Marc Crawford 1998 - It was an ugly loss to the Oilers, blowing a 3-1 series lead, but it was just that - an upset. It happens. This team was right in the mix before and after Crawford. I am not a fan of the guy, I still get reminded of the Nagano Olympics from time to time, but should he have gotten the pink slip or was there more to it?
Roger Neilson 1979 - Was fired in March of 1979 by Harold Ballard, although not to his face. Neilson was on the plane with the team when he was informed about it. Ballard had no one to replace him so eventually he asked Neilson to come back but wanted to have him wear a bag over his head prior to the game so that the fans could have a surprise as to who was coaching. Neilson didn't do this, but got the job back anyway. At the end of the season Neilson was fired for real despite an impossible situation for any coach.
Don Cherry 1979 - Nothing wrong with losing to the dynasty Habs, even if it was repeatedly. The Bruins waited a decade to get to the Cup final again.
Randy Cunneyworth 2012 - If you can't speak much French in Montreal then that will be a problem from the get go, I get that, but why even hire him in the first place? Perhaps the Habs should broaden their pool of talent to choose from. They've fired Michel Therrien twice and are almost certainly going to fire Claude Julien for a second time as well. Did Scotty Bowman, Toe Blake and Dick Irvin know a lot of french? Because if they didn't do you really take back those Cups?
Bill Peters 2019 - The power of social media I guess. Should we get used to a coach getting fired over a tweet on Twitter? No, it wasn't right what Peters said when he lashed out at Akim Aliu, but it was 10 years ago, on a different team, in a different league and is no one allowed to learn from their actions and grow anymore? I don't want to turn this into a debate, but you should never get fired from your current job based on something that didn't even happen there. Not to mention he led them to a 107 point season the year prior. It just left a bad taste.