1,500 Games As A Coach

Yet another hockey legend has passed away and his legacy will be one to be remembered by numerous individuals who he had touched.

Al Arbour began playing in 1954 with the Red Wings and later spent time with Chicago, Toronto and St. Louis, winning the Stanley Cup in twice.

He won the cup with the Chicago Black Hawks (1960-61) and with the Leafs twice (1961–62 and 1963–64) and is one of only eleven players to win consecutive Stanley Cups with two different teams.

He is only one of only ten players in Stanley Cup history to win the Cup with three different teams and was the first Captain of the expansion St. Louis Blues and played for them when they lost in Cup finals in 1968, 1969, 1970 (all in four consecutive games).

He started coaching with the Blues in 1970, then moved on to take over behind the bench with a young New York Islanders team that had set a (then) NHL record of winning only 12 games in their first season of 1972-73.

Although his team finished last in league standings for the second consecutive year, they gave up 100 fewer goals and earned 56 points which was up 30 from the previous year.

Arbour retired after the 1993–94 season, having led the Islanders to a second playoff berth where they were swept in the first round by the New York Rangers who went on to win Lord Stanley’s Cup.

November 3/07, he returned once more, but this time it was at the request of Islanders coach Ted Nolan allowing him to coach his 1,500th game for the Islanders organization.

At the age of 75 he became the oldest man to ever coach a National Hockey League game that saw him get his740th win, bringing down the old banner of 739.

He retired and lived in Longboat Key, Florida, but kept his summer cabin/cottage in Sudbury and in 2015 he was treated for Parkinson’s disease and dementia, eventually entering hospice care.

He was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for his contributions to the sport and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996.

He was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach in 1979 and after  he retired from behind the bench he was named as Vice President of player development for the Islanders.

As a youngster I remember him playing and being the only player to wear glasses while playing with Chicago and for one, everyone noticed him.

Have you got one or both of these?