Who were the all-time greatest NHL Coaches?

Answer 1

I belive Al Arbour was the best coach ever because he won about 800 games i believe and won 4 consecutive Stanley cups all with the New York Islanders.

Al Arbour was a great coach and he did have 749 wins as well as 123 in the playoffs including 4 consecutive Stanley Cups.

Anyone who follows the NHL would have to say that the best coach of all time was Scotty Bowman.

Teams he coached won 9 Stanley Cups, 1,244 wins and 223 playoff wins (all NHL records) his resume speaks for itself. He coached some of the greatest players to ever play during his days with St. Louis, Buffalo, Montreal, Pittsburgh and Detroit.

We tend to think of greatness in coaches according to their won/loss stats. But I think some coaches were great simply because of their ability to instill production among players who were not the top stars. The Philadelphia Flyers of the mid 70's won two Stanley Cups over other teams that (on paper) far outshone them. It was Fred Shero who made those Flyers gutsy winners. I rate Shero as being among the greatest of NHL coaches for his ability to draw out the very best from his squads.

Surreyfan