Kirk Muller

Kirk Muller
Date of birth	February 8, 1966
place of birth	Kingston , Ontario , Canada
Nickname	Captain Kirk
size	183 cm
Weight	93 kg
position	center
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1984 , 1st round, 2nd position New Jersey Devils
Career stations
1980-1982	Kingston Canadians
1982-1984	Guelph Platers
1984-1991	New Jersey Devils
1991-1995	Canadiens de Montréal
1995	New York Islanders
1995-1997	Toronto Maple Leafs
1997-1999	Florida panthers
1999-2003	Dallas Stars

Kirk Christopher Muller (born February 8, 1966 in Kingston , Ontario ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and current coach , who played 1476 games for the New Jersey Devils , Canadiens de Montréal , New York, between 1980 and 2003 Islanders , Toronto Maple Leafs , Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars in the National Hockey League on the position of the center has denied. In the service of the Canadiens de Montréal, Muller, who had been selected in the NHL Entry Draft 1984 in second overall position, won the Stanley Cup in 1993 . From 2011 to 2014 he was the head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. Since June 2016 he has been working as an assistant trainer for the Canadiens de Montréal.

Career

Muller in the jersey of the Canadiens de Montréal

Player career

At the age of 14 Muller played with the juniors in the Ontario Hockey League in his hometown for the Kingston Canadians . As a 16-year-old he came into the OHL draft and therefore switched to the Guelph Platers . There, too, he was able to draw attention to himself with convincing performances. After 112 points in his first season in Guelph, he moved to 94 points in just 49 games in the Canadian national team . He first played for Canada at the Junior World Championships and then moved to the national team that was preparing for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo . With two goals and one assists, he also impressed at the Olympics. In the 1984 NHL Entry Draft , he was selected in the first round as the second player by the New Jersey Devils . Only Mario Lemieux was brought before him , but Muller was able to outdo numerous stars of the following years such as Ed Olczyk , Al Iafrate , Shayne Corson and Gary Roberts .

In the 1984/85 season he made the leap into the NHL. He played all 80 games and scored 54 points. His good performance was also rewarded with a nomination for the NHL All-Star Game . He stayed with the Devils for seven years and only missed four games during that time. With 94 points, the 1987/88 season was his most successful in New Jersey. For the 1991/92 season he moved to the Canadiens de Montréal . In his second season in Montreal, he set his best performance of 94 points and led the team as team captain in the finals of the Stanley Cup . There the Canadiens with start goalkeeper Patrick Roy could prevail against the Los Angeles Kings around Wayne Gretzky .

The fans in Montreal were speechless when “Captain Kirk” was handed over to the New York Islanders together with Mathieu Schneider in the course of the 1994/95 season to bring Pierre Turgeon back to Montreal. Vladimir Malachow also came to Montreal with Turgeon . Muller was also shocked when he received the news of his change and had tears in his eyes during the interviews. The time with the Islanders was disappointing and after only 15 games in the 1995/96 season he moved to the Toronto Maple Leafs . Again, he did not make a full season and towards the end of the 1996/97 season his journey continued to the Florida Panthers . There he played with moderate success until the end of the 1998/99 season . At the beginning of the 1999/2000 season he had no contract. Worried about his future, he signed with last year's Stanley Cup winners, the Dallas Stars , in December 1999 , who had to compensate for a number of injuries. Muller found his way back to his good performance of previous years. He came with the stars in the finals, but where the New Jersey Devils prevented the title defense. In the later years of his career, Muller took on a significantly more defensive role. He played for the Stars until the 2002/03 season before announcing his retirement.

Coaching career

Kirk Muller
Coaching stations
2006-2011	Canadiens de Montréal (Assistant)
2011	Milwaukee Admirals
2011-2014	Carolina Hurricanes
2014-2016	St. Louis Blues (Assistant)
since 2016	Canadiens de Montréal (Assistant)

For the 2006/07 season he took over the post of assistant coach with the Canadiens de Montréal. The Canadian held this position for five seasons before he was hired in June 2011 as head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals from the American Hockey League . After Paul Maurice was fired on November 28, 2011, he was promoted to head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes . After three seasons without even reaching the play-offs, Muller was dismissed at the end of the 2013/14 season. The St. Louis Blues then hired him as an assistant coach. After two years with the St. Louis Blues, he did not receive a new contract and was subsequently committed - also as an assistant - to the Canadiens de Montréal.

Achievements and Awards

1982 Jack Ferguson Award 1983 William Hanley Trophy 1985 Participation in the NHL All-Star Game 1986 Participation in the NHL All-Star Game 1987 Participation in Rendez-vous '87

1988 Participation in the NHL All-Star Game 1990 Participation in the NHL All-Star Game 1992 participation in the NHL All-Star Game 1993 Participation in the NHL All-Star Game 1993 Stanley Cup win with the Canadiens de Montréal

International

• 1985 silver medal at the world championship
• 1986 bronze medal at the world championship
• 1989 silver medal at the world championship

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1980/81	Kingston Voyageurs	MetJHL		42	17th	37	54	5		-	-	-	-	-
1980/81	Kingston Canadians	OMJHL		2	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
1981/82	Kingston Canadians	OHL		67	12	39	51	27		4th	5	1	6th	4th
1982/83	Guelph Platers	OHL		66	52	60	112	41		-	-	-	-	-
1983/84	Guelph Platers	OHL		49	31	63	94	27		-	-	-	-	-
1983/84	Hockey Canada	International		15th	2	2	4th	16
1984/85	New Jersey Devils	NHL		80	17th	37	54	69		-	-	-	-	-
1985/86	New Jersey Devils	NHL		77	25th	41	66	45		-	-	-	-	-
1986/87	New Jersey Devils	NHL		79	26th	50	76	75		-	-	-	-	-
1987/88	New Jersey Devils	NHL		80	37	57	94	114		20th	4th	8th	12	37
1988/89	New Jersey Devils	NHL		80	31	43	74	119		-	-	-	-	-
1989/90	New Jersey Devils	NHL		80	30th	56	86	74		6th	1	3	4th	11
1990/91	New Jersey Devils	NHL		80	19th	51	70	76		7th	0	2	2	10
1991/92	Canadiens de Montréal	NHL		78	36	41	77	86		11	4th	3	7th	31
1992/93	Canadiens de Montréal	NHL		80	37	57	94	77		20th	10	7th	17th	18th
1993/94	Canadiens de Montréal	NHL		76	23	34	57	96		7th	6th	2	8th	4th
1994/95	Canadiens de Montréal	NHL		33	8th	11	19th	33		-	-	-	-	-
1994/95	New York Islanders	NHL		12	3	5	8th	14th		-	-	-	-	-
1995/96	New York Islanders	NHL		15th	4th	3	7th	15th		-	-	-	-	-
1995/96	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		36	9	16	25th	42		6th	3	2	5	0
1996/97	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		66	20th	17th	37	85		-	-	-	-	-
1996/97	Florida panthers	NHL		10	1	2	3	4th		5	1	2	3	4th
1997/98	Florida panthers	NHL		70	8th	21st	29	54		-	-	-	-	-
1998/99	Florida panthers	NHL		82	4th	11	15th	49		-	-	-	-	-
1999/00	Dallas Stars	NHL		47	7th	15th	22nd	24		23	2	3	5	18th
2000/01	Dallas Stars	NHL		55	1	9	10	26th		10	1	3	4th	12
2001/02	Dallas Stars	NHL		78	10	20th	30th	28		-	-	-	-	-
2002/03	Dallas Stars	NHL		55	1	5	6th	18th		12	1	1	2	8th
OHL total				184	95	162	257	95		4th	5	1	6th	4th
NHL overall				1349	357	602	959	1223		127	33	36	69	153

International

Represented Canada to: Junior World Championship 1984 1984 Winter Olympics World Championship 1985

1986 World Championship World Championship 1987 World Championship 1989

Represented the National Hockey League at: Rendez-vous '87

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1984	Canada	June World Cup	4th Place		7th	2	1	3	16
1984	Canada	Olympia	4th Place		6th	2	1	3	0
1985	Canada	WM			10	2	2	4th	12
1986	Canada	WM			9	4th	3	7th	12
1987	NHL All-Stars	Date	-		2	0	0	0	0
1987	Canada	WM	4th Place		10	2	0	2	8th
1989	Canada	WM			9	6th	4th	10	6th
Juniors overall					7th	2	1	3	16
Men overall					44	16	10	26th	38

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

NHL coaching statistics

				Regular season							Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	S.	N	OTN	Pt	space		Sp	S.	N	result
2011/12	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL		57	25th	20th	12	(62)	5th, Southeast		-	-	-	not qualified
2012/13	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL		48	19th	25th	4th	42	3rd, Southeast		-	-	-	not qualified
2013/14	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL		82	36	35	11	83	7th, Metropolitan		-	-	-	not qualified
NHL overall				187	80	80	27	187	0 division title		-	-	-	0 Stanley Cups

( Legend for coach statistics: Sp or GC = total games; W or S = wins scored; L or N = losses scored; T or U = draws scored; OTL or OTN = losses scored after overtime or shootout ; Pts or Pkt = points scored ; Pts% or Pkt% = point rate; Win% = win rate; result = round reached in the play-offs )

Web links

Commons : Kirk Muller  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Kirk Muller at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Kirk Muller at eliteprospects.com (English)
• Kirk Muller at hockeydb.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ blues.nhl.com: "Muller Joins Blues as Assistant Coach" (English, May 13, 2014, accessed June 7, 2014)