Ken Hitchcock

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Ken Hitchcock
Coaching stations
1984-1990 Kamloops Blazers
1990-1993 Philadelphia Flyers (assistant coach)
1993-1995 Kalamazoo Wings
1995-1996 Michigan K-Wings
1996-2002 Dallas Stars
2002-2006 Philadelphia Flyers
2006-2010 Columbus Blue Jackets
2011-2017 St. Louis Blues
2017-2018 Dallas Stars
2018-2019 Edmonton Oilers

Ken Hitchcock (born December 17, 1951 in Edmonton , Alberta ) is a Canadian ice hockey coach who last coached the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League until the end of the 2018/19 season. Between 1996 and 2017 he was in charge of the Dallas Stars , Philadelphia Flyers , Columbus Blue Jackets and St. Louis Blues in the NHL. He won the Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1999 . At the international level, he worked regularly as an assistant coach for the Canadian national team , including at the Olympic Winter Games from 2002 to 2014 , so that he won gold medals three times with Team Canada .

Career

Ken Hitchcock began his coaching career in 1984 in the Canadian Junior League WHL with the Kamloops Blazers and led the team in the first season with 52 wins to the best result in the history of the franchise and to the final of the playoffs . In 1985/86 he won the Presidents' Cup with the Blazers and in the following years, the team under the leadership of Hitchcock was one of the best teams in the league, so that they could win the WHL championship again in 1990. In addition, during his time in Kamloops, Hitchcock was honored twice with the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as the best coach of the WHL and once with the Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award as the best coach of the CHL .

After six years as a coach of the young players, the Philadelphia Flyers signed him from the NHL in 1990 as an assistant coach. For a total of three years he worked there under the direction of head coach Paul Holmgren , and later under Bill Dineen . In 1993 Hitchcock in the unterklassige IHL to the farm team of the Dallas Stars , the Kalamazoo Wings to take over as head coach. He led the Wings to 48 wins in 81 games in his first season and in 1994/95 they reached the third round of the playoffs.

Hitchcock coached the team, which had now been renamed Michigan K-Wings, in 40 games the following season before he was promoted to head coach of the Dallas Stars. However, he could not bring the stumbling team in the current season on the playoff course, but in the 1996/97 season he led the Stars to second place in the Western Conference and improved the season's result by 22 wins and 38 points compared to the previous year . The team was able to improve again in the following two years, reached the final of the Western Conference in 1998 and finally won the Stanley Cup in 1999 by winning the final series against the Buffalo Sabers . Due to the team's success, Hitchcock was nominated three times in a row for the Jack Adams Award as the best coach in the league from 1997 to 1999 .

Although the points yield of the stars decreased during the 1999/2000 season , but in the playoffs they strove to successfully defend their title before they had to admit defeat to the New Jersey Devils in the final . While the success of the stars in the regular season continued in the following season, they did not get past the second round in the playoffs. When the team started the 2001/02 season somewhat difficult and after 50 games had only achieved an average of 23 wins compared to previous years, Hitchcock was dismissed.

As early as the summer of 2002, Hitchcock was hired as head coach by the Philadelphia Flyers, who had only recently separated from Bill Barber because of the early exit from the playoffs. Hitchcock led the team to 45 wins and third place in the Eastern Conference. In addition, the Flyers had conceded the fewest goals over the course of the season. They had their first playoff success in the 2003/04 season when they reached the final of the Eastern Conference and only just had to admit defeat to the eventual Stanley Cup winner Tampa Bay Lightning .

After the loss of the 2004/05 NHL season because of the lockout , the Flyers played a good regular season in 2005/06 , but failed in the first round at the Buffalo Sabers. When Hitchcock was only able to get one win out of eight games at the beginning of the 2006/07 season , he was relieved of responsibility for the team and he took over the post of Pro Scout in the organization .

Three weeks later, on November 21, 2006, Hitchcock was signed by the Columbus Blue Jackets as the new coach. However, he could not lead the Blue Jackets into the playoffs during the season.

On February 19, 2009 he succeeded in the 960th career game, the 500th victory as a coach in the NHL. Up until then, only Scotty Bowman (1978) and Toe Blake (1968) had succeeded in fewer games. On November 11, 2009, Hitchcock's 1000th game as an NHL coach followed. His Columbus Blue Jackets slipped 9-1 against the Detroit Red Wings in their highest home defeat in club history. In November 2011 he was installed as a successor to the St. Louis Blues after the dismissal of head coach Davis Payne .

This season, Hitchcock leads the Blues to their best start under a new coach with 16 points out of ten games. Finally, he reached the end of the season with 109 points, the second-best result in team history and thus led the Blues to the first division title in the Central Division since 2000. Because of these successes, he was for the fourth time in his career for the Jack Adams Award as the best coach Nominated for the season and finally won the award for the first time. This made him the fourth coach in the history of the Blues to receive the trophy.

In June 2016 it was announced that Hitchcock's expiring contract should not be extended after the 2016/17 season, so the Blues in Mike Yeo already hired his successor as an assistant coach. After a sportingly disappointing first half of the season, Hitchcock was relieved of his duties in February 2017 and Yeo was introduced as the new head coach earlier than planned.

In April 2017, Hitchcock was introduced as the new head coach of the Dallas Stars and thus returned to his old place of work. There he succeeded Lindy Ruff . After a season in which the stars missed the playoffs, Hitchcock announced the end of his coaching career. In total, he had coached 1536 games in the NHL and won 823, so that he finished third in the all-time ranking after victories at this time behind Scotty Bowman and Joel Quenneville .

In November 2018, however, Hitchcock returned from retirement when he succeeded Todd McLellan at the Edmonton Oilers . For now, he should look after the team from his hometown until the end of the current 2018/19 season. In addition, his contract was not subsequently extended.

Achievements and Awards

NHL coaching statistics

team season regular season Play-offs
Games S. N U / OTL Pts space S. N result
Dallas Stars 1995/96 43 15th 23 5 35 6. ( Central ) - - not qualified
Dallas Stars 1996/97 82 48 26th 8th 104 1. (Central) 3 4th Conference quarterfinals
Dallas Stars 1997/98 82 49 22nd 11 109 1. (Central) 10 7th Conference finals
Dallas Stars 1998/99 82 51 19th 12 114 1. ( Pacific ) 16 7th Stanley Cup win
Dallas Stars 1999/00 82 43 23 10 102 1. (Pacific) 14th 9 Stanley Cup Final
Dallas Stars 2000/01 82 48 24 10 106 1. (Pacific) 4th 6th Conference semifinals
Dallas Stars 2001/02 50 23 17th 10 56 dismiss - - -
Philadelphia Flyers 2002/03 82 45 20th 17th 107 2. ( Atlantic ) 6th 7th Conference semifinals
Philadelphia Flyers 2003/04 82 40 21st 21st 101 1. (Atlantic) 11 7th Conference finals
Philadelphia Flyers 2004/05 no game operation due to the lockout
Philadelphia Flyers 2005/06 82 45 26th 11 101 2. (Atlantic) 2 4th Conference quarterfinals
Philadelphia Flyers 2006/07 8th 1 6th 1 3 dismiss - - -
Columbus Blue Jackets 2006/07 62 28 29 5 61 4. (Central) - - not qualified
Columbus Blue Jackets 2007/08 82 34 36 12 80 4. (Central) - - not qualified
Columbus Blue Jackets 2008/09 82 41 31 10 92 4. (Central) 0 4th Conference quarterfinals
Columbus Blue Jackets 2009/10 58 22nd 27 9 53 dismiss - - -
St. Louis Blues 2011/12 69 43 15th 11 97 1. (Central) 4th 5 Conference semifinals
St. Louis Blues 2012/13 48 29 17th 2 60 2. (Central) 2 4th Conference quarterfinals
St. Louis Blues 2013/14 82 52 23 7th 111 2. (Central) 2 4th Conference quarterfinals
St. Louis Blues 2014/15 82 51 24 7th 109 1. (Central) 2 4th Conference quarterfinals
St. Louis Blues 2015/16 82 49 24 9 107 2. (Central) 10 10 Conference finals
St. Louis Blues 2016/17 50 24 21st 5 53 dismiss - - -
Dallas Stars 2017/18 82 42 32 8th 92 6. (Central) - - not qualified
Edmonton Oilers 2018/19 62 26th 28 8th 60 7. (Pacific) - - not qualified
total 1598 849 534 215 1913 8 division titles 86 82 1 Stanley Cup

S = victories; N = defeats; U = tie; OTL = defeat in overtime or shootout ; Pts = points

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ NHL.com, Blues fire Payne, name Hitchcock coach
personal data
SURNAME Hitchcock, Ken
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey coach
DATE OF BIRTH 17th December 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Edmonton , Alberta