Ranking the coaches

by James Mirtle on Feb 10, 2009 10:01 PM CST Comment 11 comments

I caught at least half of tonight's Sharks-Bruins tilt, and it was a pretty good one. Boston actually lost for the first time in regulation this season when going into the third period with a lead.

San Jose's record under new coach Todd McLellan has been incredible, and you have to think it might be approaching a record for a first-time NHL coach. Here's a look at the career points percentages of all current head coaches (GC = games coached):

R	Coach	Yrs	GC	W	L	T	OL	Pts	P%	Pl-ff W%	St Cup
1	Todd McLellan	1	50	36	7	0	7	79	0.790	0.000	0
2	B.Boudreau	2	115	71	33	0	11	153	0.665	0.429	0
3	Mike Babcock	6	463	266	129	19	49	600	0.648	0.642	1
4	Dave Tippett	6	462	261	140	28	33	583	0.631	0.447	0
5	Brent Sutter	2	136	80	46	0	10	170	0.625	0.200	0
6	Randy Carlyle	4	302	165	98	0	39	369	0.611	0.628	1
7	Claude Julien	6	374	199	123	10	42	450	0.602	0.389	0
8	Tony Granato	3	186	97	60	17	12	223	0.599	0.500	0
9	J.Quenneville	12	886	466	295	77	48	1057	0.597	0.483	0
10	Ken Hitchcock	13	954	495	315	88	56	1134	0.594	0.564	1
11	G.Carbonneau	3	218	118	78	0	22	258	0.592	0.417	0
12	Lindy Ruff	11	874	425	322	78	49	977	0.559	0.591	0
13	Peter DeBoer	1	52	25	19	0	8	58	0.558	0.000	0
14	J.Lemaire	15	1101	527	403	124	47	1225	0.556	0.536	1
15	Terry Murray	12	788	383	298	89	18	873	0.554	0.517	0
16	Mike Keenan	20	1357	657	519	147	34	1495	0.551	0.563	1
17	Tom Renney	7	421	201	167	9	44	455	0.540	0.458	0
18	C.MacTavish	8	627	289	240	47	51	676	0.539	0.567	0
19	Ron Wilson	15	1144	538	450	101	55	1232	0.538	0.495	0
20	M.Therrien	7	460	211	181	23	45	490	0.533	0.568	0
21	Andy Murray	9	668	297	254	58	59	711	0.532	0.417	0
22	A.Vigneault	7	482	221	197	35	29	506	0.525	0.409	0
23	John Stevens	3	208	91	86	0	31	213	0.512	0.529	0
24	Barry Trotz	10	791	349	333	60	49	807	0.510	0.273	0
25	Cory Clouston	1	3	1	1	0	1	3	0.500	0.000	0
26	Paul Maurice	12	867	359	368	99	41	858	0.495	0.486	0
27	W.Gretzky	4	300	131	147	0	22	284	0.473	0.000	0
28	Rick Tocchet	1	37	13	17	0	7	33	0.446	0.000	0
29	J.Anderson	1	54	18	31	0	5	41	0.380	0.000	0
30	Scott Gordon	1	52	16	31	0	5	37	0.356	0.000	0

The order's a bit surprising here, and only five current coaches have won a Cup. Maurice's longevity's pretty impressive given his record.

Tough way to start in the big leagues for Anderson and Gordon.

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Maurice's career GC

That is the weirdest figure on there, I had no idea. Is he seriously 200 games ahead of Andy Murray and MacT? In a dead heat with Quenneville and Ruff? Barely a season behind Ken Hitchcock???

I also didn’t realize that Ron Wilson was #2 in seniority. I would have guessed Lemaire or Hitch for sure.

by MattF on Feb 10, 2009 11:56 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Wilson coached the Ducks in their inaugural season and hasn’t been out of work since. That’s pretty impressive given the turnover rate.

Maurice? Hell he was the coach of the Hartford Whalers at one point. He’s been around for 13 years.

Hitch was coaching in Kamloops at 40, I believe. He’s a guy that worked his way up right from the bottom, starting out in bantam or midget hockey in Edmonton where I believe he owned a sporting goods store. Never played.

by James Mirtle on Feb 11, 2009 12:02 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Maurice

He was 28 years old (and the youngest active coach in the NHL) when Rutherford named him head coach of the Hartford Whalers in 1995-1996. He stayed with that franchice after its move until partway through the 2004 season, when he was fired two years after leading Carolina to its first Stanley Cup finals. That’s part of the reason his record’s so bad. Still, he’s had only two seasons where his team has finished with 90 points or more (2002 with Carolina and 2007 with Toronto).

by Forsch31 on Feb 11, 2009 9:57 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

When he was hired by the Leafs I think Maurice was STILL the youngest coach in the NHL. Heck, Peter DeBoer is considered a young pup and he’s only 1 year younger than Mo. McCellan is only 9 months younger than Maurice. Looks like Clouston, at just a shade under 40, is the youngest NHL coach. So Maurice had a nearly 850 game head start on all 3 of those coaches that are barely younger than him.

If the guy can keep getting NHL jobs he’ll easily break the NHL all time losing record for coaches.

Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.

by saskhab on Feb 11, 2009 3:13 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Wayner

Odd to see Gretz’s name at the bottom of a list… weird.

"It's a great day for hockey" - BBJ

by jealous broadcaster on Feb 11, 2009 2:49 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

One thing really stands out to me on this list.
-There are no multiple cup winners. -
Success seems to be easily forgotten in this league.

by Sct112 on Feb 11, 2009 8:42 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Especially if your name is Lou Lamoriello.

3 Devils Cup winners in the last 15 years, only one name on that list – and he’s not even the Devils coach anymore.

by Afino on Feb 11, 2009 9:04 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

In all fairness,

Burns would have lasted longer if not for his battling with cancer.

by Mandmeisterx on Feb 11, 2009 8:51 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Hope the Boston fans don’t read too much into Julien’s playoff W% … not good. Same for Trotz.

CanesCountry.com: An Eye On Carolina Hockey

by Cory Lavalette on Feb 11, 2009 9:19 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Points Percentage Pontification

Shouldn’t points percentage for the coaches reflect the number of points earned by the coach’s team out of the total number awarded in his games?

Eg. 8 points have been awarded in DeBoer’s 3 games (2 went to SO). His team earned 3 of them. 3/8 gives him a points percentage of .375.

This would provide an apples to apples comparison when looking at coaches (or teams) pre- and post- the 3-point game. It would also mean that the average record for all coaches each year would be .500, rather than the .TBD that we currently have, depending on how many games go to overtime. Just more statistically valid IMO.

L’il Jimmy

by L'il Jimmy on Feb 11, 2009 1:45 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I’m afraid I don’t have those numbers readily available. Assume that those prior to the three-point era have slightly better records.

by James Mirtle on Feb 11, 2009 4:01 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

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