Glen Hanlon



Glen A. Hanlon (born February 20, 1957 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada) is a Canadian former National Hockey League goaltender and head coach.

Hanlon was formerly head coach of the Washington Capitals. He was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1977 NHL Entry Draft, in the third round (40th overall pick). He has played for the Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings. He has also played in the WCHL, Central Hockey League, AHL and IHL. He was an assistant coach for the Canucks and Washington Capitals and head coach of the Portland Pirates. In 1978, he won the Central Hockey League's Rookie of the Year.

He was assigned to coach the Belarus hockey team in 2005. He led the team to 10th place at the 2005 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, and to historic high sixth place at the 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships.

He was named "sports man of the year" by major Belarusian sports newspaper "Прессбол" in 2006.

It is notable that he allowed Wayne Gretzky's first NHL goal.

In 2009, Hanlon agreed to become the head coach of Dynamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League.

2003-2004 Season
After a miserable start to the season, general manager George McPhee fired Bruce Cassidy and hired assistant Glen Hanlon to be the head coach. The rebuilding Washington Capitals went 15-28-11 under Hanlon to finish off the year.

2005-2006 Season
With the first round pick Alexander Ovechkin, the Capitals were expected to make some noise. However the team was still very young and struggled to a final season record of 29-41-12. Despite the poor season, Glen Hanlon was guaranteed one more year to help coach a young Capitals team.

2006-2007 Season
The 2006-07 Capitals started off right. The club was 8-5-4 by the end of November. However long losing streaks eliminated the Caps chances of making the post-season. They would miss it for the 3rd straight season, and finished off with a 28-40-14 record. Despite a losing record once again, GM McPhee allowed Hanlon to continue on coaching into the 07-08 season.

2007-2008 Season
After a great off-season for the Capitals, the team on paper was greatly improved, and went 3-0 to start the 07-08 season. Since then, they have not had consecutive wins, dropping 11 of the last 13. On November 22, 2007 he was fired for the slow start.

Awards & Achievements

 * WCHL Top Goaltender Award Goals Against Average Leader (1977)
 * WCHL First All-Star Team (1977)
 * “Honoured Member” of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame