The life of an NHL coach is a tough one. Win, and the players get most of the credit. Lose, and the fingers always seem to point at you. And as fans of struggling teams know, the old adage “it's easier to fire the coach than the players” usually holds true.
But every now and then a coach emerges who manages to stick around long enough to craft a legacy. And those few who manage to win year after year, and sometimes even decade after decade, may eventually see themselves earn a place in the ranks of coaching immortality.
So let's pay tribute to some of those all-time greats. Here's a look at the ten winningest coaches in NHL history.
Scotty Bowman
Patented strategy: Would study the other team's roster carefully, then make sure that his had, like, a half-dozen more future hall-of-famers on it.
Possible weakness: Is pretty much the worst person in the entire world, according to people who've been stuck behind him going through an airport metal detector.
Career highlight: Achieved the ultimate goal in hockey on nine different occasions as a head coach; ten if you also count moving out of Buffalo.
Al Arbour
Patented strategy: Was known for emphasizing the importance of defensive zone positioning in practice. Specifically, “Don't position yourself too close to Billy Smith's crease if you like having two unbroken ankles.”
Possible weakness: Retired in 1994 after devoting over twenty years to making the Islanders logo one of the most respected in all of sports, but forgot to remind the franchise not to replace it with a crazy bearded cartoon fisherman a year after he left.
Career highlight: His Islanders won nineteen straight playoff rounds from 1980 to 1984, setting a record that experts expect will remain unbroken until Gary Bettman has given out so many expansion teams that each year's playoffs are twenty rounds long.
Dick Irvin
Patented strategy: He strongly rejected accusations that his notoriously tough practices encouraged his players to use goon tactics, although he'd later admit that perhaps the linesman-punching drills ended up being a bad idea.
Possible weakness: Oh sure, he was supposed to be this legendary innovator, but when you try to get him to break down some simple game film on your iPad he's all, “Hey, how did you get this time machine into my living room? Get out before I call the police!”
Career highlight: Hockey fans around the world should thank him for rescuing the Canadiens from potential bankruptcy by turning the team around in the 1940s, since if he hadn't done that we wouldn't all get to laugh at what's happened to them now.
Pat Quinn
Patented strategy: Would keep the mood light at practice by having underperforming players take part in a fun drill called “Why don't you skate towards me as fast as you can and we'll pretend you're Bobby Orr.”
Possible weakness: Often spoke of his open-door policy for players when it came to dealing with complaints about ice time, although he occasionally forgot to mention the part about that open door being attached to a cab that was on its way to the airport.
Career highlight: (Tie) Head coach of the 2002 Canadian Olympic team that united an entire nation by ending a fifty-year gold medal drought / Often managed to resist the urge to strangle Robert Reichel during games.
Mike Keenan
Patented strategy: While it's now become common for coaches to dictate specific matchups for their forward lines and defense pairing by constantly changing them on the fly, Keenan remains the only coach to use the strategy with his goaltenders.
Possible weakness: Was notorious for having personality conflicts with stars, which occasionally resulted in reduced production from the player since every slap shot they took during games was aimed at the bench.
Career highlight: Won the Stanley Cup with the Rangers in 1994, later admitting that he was so overwhelmed with emotion during the final seconds of game seven that he had to take a break from secretly negotiating his new contract with the St. Louis Blues.
Ron Wilson
Patented strategy: Was among the first NHL coaches to make extensive use of modern technology to formulate game strategy, although early in his career that pretty much just meant deciding whether to use mostly “fat guys” or “skinny guys.”
Possible weakness: It's been said that players eventually tune him out, although he argues that this reputation is unfair because it doesn't take into account that blah blah blah sorry I wasn't listening.
Career highlight: Guided the 2010 US Olympic team to the biggest miracle on ice since 1980 when they managed to lose an important hockey game to Roberto Luongo.
Bryan Murray
Patented strategy: His team meetings with the Senators to go over strategy for that night's game would often be interrupted by the confused former coach walking into the room and saying, “Wait a second. Does this mean I'm fired?”
Possible weakness: Only took his team past the second round of the playoffs once in his seventeen-year coaching career, although that's one more than Toe Blake ever managed and nobody complains about him.
Career highlight: Was instrumental in building the Anaheim Ducks into a contender as both coach and general manager, and they were so grateful they made sure he had a front row seat to enjoy their eventual Stanley Cup victory.
Jacques Lemaire
Patented strategy: Helped pioneer a trapping style in the mid-nineties that was imitated by virtually every team in the league over the next decade, according to your one friend who could actually manage to sit through any hockey games during that era.
Possible weakness: Devils players admit his “Hi, everyone, I'm the new coach” speech tends to get a little boring by the third time you hear it.
Career highlight: Won a Stanley Cup as coach of the Devils in 1995 after unveiling a complex new defensive system called “Oh hey, look, we have Martin Brodeur in net!”
Jacques Martin
Patented strategy: Would use a suffocating defensive system to lull his opponent to sleep, and then BAM!—here comes a slightly different suffocating defensive system.
Possible weakness: Preached discipline to his teams, but players report that behind closed doors he would sometimes respond to an especially tough loss by having a facial expression.
Career highlight: His five consecutive playoff series losses to the Maple Leafs is a modern-day record that experts agree is the most unbreakable in all of sports.
Joel Quenneville
Patented strategy: Coached the Blackhawks to a dramatic overtime win in game six of the 2010 Stanley Cup final using his famous “shoot the puck at the net and then jump around like you scored and hope nobody notices” play.
Possible weakness: His mustache kind of seems to have lost a step.
Career highlight: Beat the odds by becoming one of the few people ever drafted by Toronto to go on to a successful career in professional ice hockey.