Tribute RIP Bob McCammon
- Thread starter LuckyDay
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LuckyDay
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To me the Harry Neale was part of my childhood but things got really exciting when Trevor Linden was drafted and things were shaken up. We know it as the Pat Quinn era but the two main faces of it to me was Trevor Linden and Bob McCammon. This is when I moved to Vancouver and really started to follow the team. You kind of had to living there.
Bob had this plodding coaching technique of hardcore defense where, if you were going to beat his team, you'll wish you had never played it. Bob always played to keep it close to try and win in the third. Bob never quite liked fixed lines - he wanted players to play his system regardless of what line they were on so he regularly mixed them up just to do this. I would think that was something that could be frustrating to players and the chemistry that those lines would develop would be gone when he did that.
Nevertheless, it was effective so long as the team made the playoffs - and they were coached for it. In fact, it seemed to me he spent that whole 1988 season to play Calgary which they did and that was history. They may have went out in the first round but that was clearly the most effective they'd been since the miracle run to the finals in '82 - a liftetime for me at that age - and probably most Canucks fans
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His ouster from the team came from Griffiths Sr. himself - the man who ripped off Krutov under his watch. If Bob didn't win the next game he was gone so the team did everything for him but win piling up 51 shots IIRC.
He was gone and this was a bitter pill for Bob. This was strange for me because Bob went on the radio after every game and in the interviews always half-joking he was surprised he hadn't been fired. Still, something had to be done and we quickly learned that Pat Quinn was a genius as a coach.
As a manager in Philadelphia I remember he had quite the record - better than Pat's. I think he drafted Hextall. If Bob managed the team with Pat as coach I think the results in 95 would have been different.
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One of the fondest memories I have with Bob is when they'd play Calgary, Terry Crisp would come on the radio after the game just to hang out with Bob and talk. Bob would take a backseat to the overblown Crisper and the results were hilarious. Those two were clearly great friends where the results of the game didn't matter to their friendship. Might be the reason Bob took such a bad Canucks team giving the eventual Stanley Cup winners their only really tough series in those playoffs - only losing it to a blown call.
Bob had this plodding coaching technique of hardcore defense where, if you were going to beat his team, you'll wish you had never played it. Bob always played to keep it close to try and win in the third. Bob never quite liked fixed lines - he wanted players to play his system regardless of what line they were on so he regularly mixed them up just to do this. I would think that was something that could be frustrating to players and the chemistry that those lines would develop would be gone when he did that.
Nevertheless, it was effective so long as the team made the playoffs - and they were coached for it. In fact, it seemed to me he spent that whole 1988 season to play Calgary which they did and that was history. They may have went out in the first round but that was clearly the most effective they'd been since the miracle run to the finals in '82 - a liftetime for me at that age - and probably most Canucks fans
.His ouster from the team came from Griffiths Sr. himself - the man who ripped off Krutov under his watch. If Bob didn't win the next game he was gone so the team did everything for him but win piling up 51 shots IIRC.
He was gone and this was a bitter pill for Bob. This was strange for me because Bob went on the radio after every game and in the interviews always half-joking he was surprised he hadn't been fired. Still, something had to be done and we quickly learned that Pat Quinn was a genius as a coach.
As a manager in Philadelphia I remember he had quite the record - better than Pat's. I think he drafted Hextall. If Bob managed the team with Pat as coach I think the results in 95 would have been different.
---
One of the fondest memories I have with Bob is when they'd play Calgary, Terry Crisp would come on the radio after the game just to hang out with Bob and talk. Bob would take a backseat to the overblown Crisper and the results were hilarious. Those two were clearly great friends where the results of the game didn't matter to their friendship. Might be the reason Bob took such a bad Canucks team giving the eventual Stanley Cup winners their only really tough series in those playoffs - only losing it to a blown call.
To me the Harry Neale was part of my childhood but things got really exciting when Trevor Linden was drafted and things were shaken up. We know it as the Pat Quinn era but the two main faces of it to me was Trevor Linden and Bob McCammon. This is when I moved to Vancouver and really started to follow the team. You kind of had to living there.
Bob had this plodding coaching technique of hardcore defense where, if you were going to beat his team, you'll wish you had never played it. Bob always played to keep it close to try and win in the third. Bob never quite liked fixed lines - he wanted players to play his system regardless of what line they were on so he regularly mixed them up just to do this. I would think that was something that could be frustrating to players and the chemistry that those lines would develop would be gone when he did that.
Nevertheless, it was effective so long as the team made the playoffs - and they were coached for it. In fact, it seemed to me he spent that whole 1988 season to play Calgary which they did and that was history. They may have went out in the first round but that was clearly the most effective they'd been since the miracle run to the finals in '82 - a liftetime for me at that age - and probably most Canucks fans
His ouster from the team came from Griffiths Sr. himself - the man who ripped off Krutov under his watch. If Bob didn't win the next game he was gone so the team did everything for him but win piling up 51 shots IIRC.
He was gone and this was a bitter pill for Bob. This was strange for me because Bob went on the radio after every game and in the interviews always half-joking he was surprised he hadn't been fired. Still, something had to be done and we quickly learned that Pat Quinn was a genius as a coach.
As a manager in Philadelphia I remember he had quite the record - better than Pat's. I think he drafted Hextall. If Bob managed the team with Pat as coach I think the results in 95 would have been different.
---
One of the fondest memories I have with Bob is when they'd play Calgary, Terry Crisp would come on the radio after the game just to hang out with Bob and talk. Bob would take a backseat to the overblown Crisper and the results were hilarious. Those two were clearly great friends where the results of the game didn't matter to their friendship. Might be the reason Bob took such a bad Canucks team giving the eventual Stanley Cup winners their only really tough series in those playoffs - only losing it to a blown call.
Bob sounds kind of like the guy who just got fired... and who is vilified on this board daily. I guess time heals all wounds...
Bob McCammon was a 'character', the likes of which we just don't see in NHL hockey any more. Always quick with quip; irreverent at times when his teams played a bad game; and always a favorite of the media. The late Jack McIlhargey and Pat Quinn were a couple of others.
He was an impossible guy to 'dislike' even for some of the curmodgeons on these boards. The game has become so sanitized and bland now.....coaches all mouth much the same things in front of the mike and bend over backwards to avoid any controversy. It's probably a reflection of our on-line world, where a single remark can put you on Twitterverse forever.
But as the sun slowly sets on the hockey personalities of the 60's, 70's and 80's it's a sad reminder of the relentless passage of time.
He was an impossible guy to 'dislike' even for some of the curmodgeons on these boards. The game has become so sanitized and bland now.....coaches all mouth much the same things in front of the mike and bend over backwards to avoid any controversy. It's probably a reflection of our on-line world, where a single remark can put you on Twitterverse forever.
But as the sun slowly sets on the hockey personalities of the 60's, 70's and 80's it's a sad reminder of the relentless passage of time.
krutovsdonut
eeyore
- Sep 25, 2016
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- 9,560
Sad news… he was the team’s coach when I began following the team, and his dismissal was the first real “event” I remember happening in my fanship. When Pat Quinn took over the following game, I remember seeing an older-looking guy (except as @MS has pointed out, he actually wasn’t!) wearing reading glasses staring at the lineup card thinking “Oh man, he has no idea what he’s doing.” 
David Bruce Banner
Nude Cabdriver Ban
I have a soft spot in my heart for that 88-89 team. Not the most skilled bunch of guys (outside of Reinhart, Linden, McLean and Skriko), but they never cheated you on effort.
And Otto kicked it in.
And Otto kicked it in.
Sad news… he was the team’s coach when I began following the team, and his dismissal was the first real “event” I remember happening in my fanship. When Pat Quinn took over the following game, I remember seeing an older-looking guy (except as @MS has pointed out, he actually wasn’t!) wearing reading glasses staring at the lineup card thinking “Oh man, he has no idea what he’s doing.”
That 88-89 team was the first team I really, really got into following. It was a bit of a false dawn before the team properly broke out 3 seasons later but it was cool seeing things like '#3 in the NHL defensively!' and Linden's rookie year really gave a sense of optimism. And yeah, Otto kicked it in.
As for McCammon, he was a good coach at getting effort and defense out of players but struggled with skill players. Bungled the handling of Larionov/Krutov and the way guys like Brian Bradley were utilized was poor.
Hit the post
I have your gold medal Zippy!
I put more of the bad handling of Krutov on management other than the head coach. Most of his "issues" were off-ice. The GM should've "assigned" somebody to Krutov. Larionov was the more "wordly" player (I believe both him and his wife were international athletes & had a far easier time "acclimating" being away from "big brother"). Krutov was like a fish out of water.
I mean, it was probably both?
It sounds like McCammon was the prototypical Cold War Soviet-hating guy who didn't want to have Russians anywhere near the team. And obviously management should have handled things better.
But Larionov looked like a total flop under McCammon and then had a massive rebound - for nearly another 15 years - after Quinn took over.
Hit the post
I have your gold medal Zippy!
Fair enough.
Strange thing was, I would’ve bet Krutov would have a better NHL career based on the type of player he was (stocky, strong, power forward type). Just seemed to be better suited for the North American style then. Much like how Bubla seemed to better adjust than his compatriot Hlinka. Granted, Bubla had his issues away from the game as well.
Hit the post
I have your gold medal Zippy!
I forgot to mention that Bubla & Hlinka had also the benefit of an on ice interpreter in the form of 21 year old Lanz. He was just a child when his left left their home country Czechoslovakia was the Soviet tanks rolled in the late 60s. Still could speak to both 30+ year old NHL rookies. He mightve learned a thing or two from Bubla given that he was just a sophomore himself. Too bad I think leg injuries shortened his career
LuckyDay
Registered User
The league was still several years away from getting more specialty personnel in the office. Its certainly worked for Sandlak in the last few years here when that was Smyl's job. I'm not sure it would have worked for "The Tank". He was 32 at the time after a year of retirement and a career where he felt he was treated like a slave. Hard to be self motivated.
I can't think of how Bob could have handled Krutov better as a manager - he still wouldn't have been able to stop ownership from trying not to pay him. How would Quinn played him better as a coach? He was no Daryl Stanley.
However, I would have thought McCammon as a manager would have handled Larionov better just by not letting him go and manage to draft Valeri Bure. Although Igor still would have been controversial to have around though that could have been offset when Makarov became available and their line reunited like they did in San Jose. And I would think he could have made the Gretzky deal.
I can't think of how Bob could have handled Krutov better as a manager - he still wouldn't have been able to stop ownership from trying not to pay him. How would Quinn played him better as a coach? He was no Daryl Stanley.
However, I would have thought McCammon as a manager would have handled Larionov better just by not letting him go and manage to draft Valeri Bure. Although Igor still would have been controversial to have around though that could have been offset when Makarov became available and their line reunited like they did in San Jose. And I would think he could have made the Gretzky deal.
