Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s
It’s not like the Baseball Hall of Fame, where fans and media engage in debates as to which cap the likes of catcher Gary Carter should don when he was finally enshrined in Cooperstown. The Kid came to fame with the Montreal Expos, but reached the pinnacle of his career with the 1986 New York Mets, combining clutch hitting and some fortuitous bounces in downing the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox as New York’s 2nd team became the toast of the town after winning the World Series.
Even though the player has a say in the decision, the tall foreheads at Cooperstown have the final word, and they went with the tricolour of the now defunct Expos, which did not sit well with Mr. 7-Up, who no doubt envisioned a healthy amount of appearance money flying away, thanks to the prospect of having to sign his John Hancock on BHOF memorabilia bearing the logo of a dead franchise, instead of the mighty Mets.
Carter himself publicly showed his disdain for that choice, when he was recently introduced at the Baseball All-Star Game. Festooned in the distinctive Expos cap, he also made a point of holding up a Mets cap. There was no sign of a Dodgers, or Giants cap, even though he also suited up briefly for those franchises.
William Scott Bowman didn’t have to make that choice when he was handed the gold key to the Hockey Hall of Fame back in 1991. At that point in his storied career, Scotty Bowman had won five Stanley Cups as the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, in addition to three Cup Final appearances with the expansion St. Louis Blues. Bowman’s tenure in Buffalo did not end in the manner he would have liked, and after a few years in TV, he returned to the league with the emerging Pittsburgh Penguins.
At the time of his departure from the Sabres, Bowman was already one of the greatest NHL coaches of all-time. If he had never again stepped behind an NHL bench, his legend was sealed. As life would have it, Penguins’ head coach Bob Johnson was struck with brain cancer, and tragically passed away in November of 1991.
The defending Stanley Cup Champions mourned for their beloved coach, and got back to the business of defending their title…with Bowman as their new head coach.
The Penguins were a juggernaut, and swept aside Bowman wannabe Mike Keenan and his Chicago Blackhawks in the Cup Final. Bowman won likely his most unexpected Cup, which just added to his legend.
Except there was a considerable backlash building against the Master. There were many who clung to the faulted belief that anyone could have coached the late 70’s Canadiens to victory, that all Bowman had to do was open the door on the bench. The same surface criticism was levelled at Bowman about these talented Penguins, and it only intensified the following spring when the heavily-favoured Pens fell in Game Seven overtime to David Volek and the New York Islanders.
Bowman moved on to the eternally under-achieving Detroit Red Wings, and initially experienced a bumpy ride with the Wings, including a sweep in the 1995 Final at the hands of the New Jersey Devils, coached by former Bowman disciple Jacques Lemaire. Suddenly, the naysayers were emboldened with fresh evidence that Bowman was overrated.
Undaunted, the Red Wings did what any champion does. They refused to panic. They didn’t blow things up and start again. They stayed the course, made the changes they deemed logical, and were rewarded with back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998.
The 1997 celebration remains, for me, the most joyous post-game celebration I have ever watched on television. The pent-up frustrations and expectations of Red Wing fans finally had a platform for release, and Bowman took part in the festivities, donning skates and hoisting the Cup.
The Master would put an appropriate exclaimation point on his stellar career, capturing the Cup one final time in 2002, his final year behind the bench. In total, William Scott Bowman won nine Stanley Cups, and led a team to the Final on an additional four occasions.
He set seemingly unassailable records for games and Cups won. Along the way, he alienated players and fans alike with his style, but both parties understood one plain fact about Bowman. He was a winner.
So when Bowman decided to jump ship and join the resurgent Chicago Blackhawks as an advisor (joining his son Stan in the Chicago front office), he once again exhibited a perfect sense of timing. The Master tested the wind, and knew which way it was blowing.
During a recent game against the Red Wings, the TV cameras found Bowman in the crowd, surveying the game unfolding in front of him. Which got me to thinking.
If Bowman was not yet in the Hockey Hall-of-Fame, and someone had to choose which NHL sweater or cap his plaque would display, which team would he represent, particularly if one was only to consider his record as an NHL head coach?
Statistics don’t always present the entire picture, but they’re a pretty good starting point. Let’s agree that his days with the Blues and Sabres are not in the discussion, despite his early success with St. Louis. His six plus years in Buffalo are without doubt the most disappointing of Bowman’s NHL career. His time with Pittsburgh wasn’t long enough to warrant inclusion either.
Which means, rather obviously, it comes down to his legendary stint with the 1970’s Montreal Canadiens vs. his more recent success with the one modern dynasty still operating in the National Hockey League, the Detroit Red Wings.
In Montreal, Bowman returned to the organization he got his start in, including a Memorial Cup win in 1958. After a power struggle in St. Louis, Bowman left and took over the reins of the Canadiens, who the season before, had won the Stanley Cup with an underrated team that featured rookie Ken Dryden in net, and was captain Jean Beliveau’s final year in the league. The trouble was, head coach Al MacNeil was called out by Habs’ icon Henri Richard concerning ice-time during the playoffs, which the French media ate up, and even though the Pocket Rocket tried his best to calm the waters after the season was over, the damage was done.
Bowman got the job, though that 71-72 team lost in the first round in six games to New York Rangers, who made it all the way to the Cup Final, only to lose to the Bruins.
The next season, Bowman steered the Habs to first place in the East Division. in the process losing only 10 games, as Montreal regained the Stanley Cup. But the best was yet-to-come.
After losing Dryden to a contract dispute, Montreal came up short in ‘74 and ‘75, the years of Bernie Parent, Bobby Clarke, and the Broad Street Bullies. The emergence of superstar sniper Guy Lafleur, the maturing of the Big Three on defence, the addition of effective role players such as Bob Gainey and Doug Jarvis, and the return of Dryden all added up to a dynasty, one that won four straight Stanley Cups between 1976 and 1979.
It was on the strength of these magnificent teams that the legend of Bowman was forged. By the time he left for Buffalo, Bowman had won five Stanley Cups in five Final appearances during his eight years with Montreal, and compiled a gaudy 419 wins in only 634 regular seasons games, as well as posting a .714 winning percentage in the post-season. These were truly Hall-of-Fame numbers.
Fast forward to the late 1990’s, and Bowman behind the bench of the Detroit Red Wings. During his nine-year head coaching tenure in Michigan, Bowman won three Stanley Cups in four appearances. He won 414 regular-season games in only 706 games, and his playoff winning percentage was an impressive .642. Along the way, in part thanks to an additional two games added on to the regular season NHL schedule, Bowman’s 95-96 Wings set a league record by winning 62 times that season, two better than the 76-77 Canadiens, coached by Bowman.
The overall numbers are similar. The Montreal numbers are slightly more impressive, though one has to factor in the circumstances under which these two franchises operated. The late 70’s Canadiens were the most powerful team in a league that still featured a number of weak sisters. The Habs were challenged by the young Islanders, and the very talented Boston Bruins, but managed to overcome all obstacles during that four-year run. Montreal and Boston were among the powerful teams that fattened their averages against the likes of the Cleveland Barons, Washington Capitals and Minnesota North Stars.
By the time Bowman was hoisting the Cup with the late 90’s Red Wings, the landscape of the NHL had changed considerably. Thanks to better training techniques, better coaching, better goaltending, and a resulting tighter style of play, there was more parity in the league than when Bowman was with Montreal. There were less opportunities to feast on the unfortunate, which meant less inflated numbers. Taking all that into account, Bowman’s final stats with the Red Wings compare very favourably with his halcyon days in Montreal.
In the end, both incarnations of Bowman are deserving of accolades. And despite what the great unwashed may rant about on internet billboards, not just anyone could have coached these teams. It takes a special kind of coach to be able to juggle all the demands of a talented group of athletes, each of whom believes they have what it takes to be on the first line, or start in net.
A large number of books have been written about Bowman and his coaching style. Suffice to say, Bowman is arguably the greatest head coach in NHL history. His two greatest stretches of accomplishements happened in Montreal, and Detroit. Each incarnation was impressive to behold. My heart says Scotty Bowman is first-and-foremost identified with the Montreal Canadiens, but my head says that his most impressive coaching job was with the Red Wings.
The better question might be, who would win in a best-of-seven battle between the 1977 Montreal Canadiens and the 1997 Detroit Red Wings?
- Mick Kern
Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s
