Marc Crawford.
The former Canuck (176 games over a half-dozen seasons) has been the head coach for well over one thousand NHL games, has won a Jack Adams Trophy as the League’s best coach and has been behind the bench for the big one – Lord Stanley’s Cup. But those years are well in the past, as he’s managed to win just one playoff series in the last dozen seasons he’s coached in the NHL (despite having some good teams), and missing the playoffs in seven of those campaigns.
In his last five seasons as an NHL bench boss, his teams have finished in fifth-place three times and fourth-place twice… all in five-team divisions. And while he’s had some good offenses, his defenses have tended to struggle. He’s also got some baggage, but perhaps that’s neither here nor there. Oh, and if you thought Dale Hunter made some curious personnel decisions at times, you might want to ask Crow why he didn’t use Steve Yzerman or Wayne Gretzky in the shootout in Nagano.
It’s been a while since Crawford has been a winner, but his name’s engraved on the Cup and they’ll never take that away from him. Can he do it again? You’d like to find out, and perhaps the rest of us will as well.
Crawford’s coaching history (via hockeydb.com):
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