Scotty Bowman

Scotty Bowman at the 2006 NHL Awards

William Scott "Scotty" Bowman (born September 18, 1933 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a former National Hockey League head coach. He is the winningest coach in league history, with 1,244 wins in the regular season and 223 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He coached the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.

As head coach, Bowman won a record nine Stanley Cups with the Canadiens (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979), Penguins (1992) and Red Wings (1997, 1998 and 2002). He was also part of the 1991 Stanley Cup winning team as director of player development for the Penguins. He won the Jack Adams Award in 1977 and 1996. In the 1976-77 season he won a record 60 games and broke his own record with 62 wins in 1995-96. No other head coach in the history of the NHL, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, or the National Basketball Association has won championships with three different teams.

Early years

Bowman played minor league hockey until a head injury ended his playing career. He started coaching with the Ottawa Junior Canadiens in the Quebec Junior Hockey League in 1956. Two years later, the team coached by Bowman and managed by Sam Pollock won the Memorial Cup in 1958. Soon thereafter, he moved into a coaching job with the Peterborough Petes of the OHA, the Canadiens junior farm team.

Bowman moved into the NHL in 1966 when he became assistant coach of the expansion Blues under Lynn Patrick. However, Patrick resigned after a slow start, and Bowman became coach at age 34. The Blues caught fire, and made it to the Stanley Cup finals in their first three years of existence. Bowman coached in St. Louis until the end of the 1970-71 season (his first NHL season with a losing record), but left after team owner Sid Salomon reneged on a promise to make him general manager as well.

Bowman then joined the Montreal Canadiens as head coach. His team lost in the first round of the playoffs in 1972 but won the Stanley Cup in 1973. The Canadiens would make the playoffs over the next two seasons but bow out in the first and third rounds, respectively as the rival Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup. From 1976 to 1979, Bowman won four consecutive Stanley Cups with a talented Canadiens squad that included Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt and Ken Dryden. Bowman's team won at least 45 games in each of his eight seasons.

The 1980s

Bowman left Montreal when the Canadiens would not make him general manager. For the 1979-80 season, he moved to the Buffalo Sabres as coach and general manager. He served as the team's general manager until 1987, doubling as coach on three separate occasions. During this time, he missed the playoffs for the only time in his career, in the 1985-86 season.

Bowman joined the Sabres around the same time that their stars were growing old. After failing to turn the Sabres into a winner, he quit hockey temporarily in 1987 to become an analyst for the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. He became the Director of Player Personnel of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1990 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991 as a builder.

The 1990s

After the death of Bob Johnson, who had just won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins the previous season, Bowman took over as coach. Under Bowman, the Penguins repeated as Stanley Cup champions in a season dedicated to Johnson.

The next season, the Penguins had their first 100-point season in franchise history, and finished with the league's best record. Their 119 points is still a franchise record. In the playoffs, the Penguins were upended in the Patrick Division finals by the New York Islanders.

Bowman then became coach of the Red Wings and the next season won the Presidents' Trophy for the second year in a row, but his Red Wings were ousted in the first round by the young San Jose Sharks. In 1995, the Red Wings made it to the Stanley Cup finals but were swept by the New Jersey Devils in four straight. This was the Red Wings' first appearance in the finals in 29 years. In the 1995-96 regular season, he won a record 62 games. However, they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the playoffs third round. In the 1997 playoffs, Bowman led the team to its first Stanley Cup in 42 years by sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0. The Red Wings repeated the feat the following season by sweeping the Washington Capitals. In 1999, they were upset by the Colorado Avalanche in the semi-finals.

The 2000s and Retirement

Bowman decided in February 2002 that he would retire at the end of the season and he went out as a winner as his Red Wings won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 4 games to 1. It was after the presentation of the Cup on the ice that Bowman publicly announced his retirement from coaching. He remains with Detroit as a senior adviser to the team's management, and also occasionally made appearances on ESPN as a pre-game analyst. In 2003 Bowman was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

Coaching record

Team	Year	Regular Season							Post Season
		G	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	Finish	W	L	Win %	Result
STL	68-69	58	23	21	14	-	60	3rd in West	8	10	.444	Lost in Final
STL	68-69	76	37	25	14	-	88	1st in West	8	4	.667	Lost in Final
STL	69-70	76	37	27	12	-	86	1st in West	8	8	.500	Lost in Final
STL	70-71	28	13	10	5	-	31	2nd in West	2	4	.333	Lost in 1st Round
STL Total		238	110	83	45	-	265		26	26	.500	4 Playoff Appearances
MON	71-72	78	46	16	16	-	108	3rd in East	2	4	.333	Lost in 1st Round
MON	72-73	78	52	10	16	-	120	1st in East	12	5	.706	Won Stanley Cup
MON	73-74	78	45	24	9	-	99	2nd in East	2	4	.333	Lost in 1st Round
MON	74-75	80	47	14	19	-	113	1st in Norris Division	6	5	.545	Lost in Semi-Finals
MON	75-76	80	58	11	11	-	127	1st in Norris Division	12	1	.923	Won Stanley Cup
MON	76-77	80	60	8	12	-	132	1st in Norris Division	12	2	.857	Won Stanley Cup
MON	77-78	80	59	10	11	-	129	1st in Norris Division	12	3	.800	Won Stanley Cup
MON	78-79	80	52	17	11	-	115	1st in Norris Division	12	4	.750	Won Stanley Cup
MON Total		634							70			8 Playoff Appearances 5 Stanley Cup Championships
BUF	79-80					-
BUF	81-82					-
BUF	82-83					-
BUF	83-84					-
BUF	84-85					-
BUF	85-86					-
BUF	86-87					-
BUF Total
PITTS	91-92					-
PITTS	92-93					-
PITTS Total
DET	71-72					-
DET	72-73					-
DET	73-74					-
DET	74-75					-
DET	1975-76					-
DET	1976-77					-
DET	77-78					-
DET	78-79					-
MON Total
Total