John Muckler

John "Mucks" Muckler (13 April 1934 – 4 January 2021) was a professional hockey coach and executive, who last served as the general manager of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Muckler had over 50 years of professional hockey experience as a part owner, general manager, director of player personnel, director of hockey operations, head coach, assistant coach and player. He had been a part of five Stanley Cup championships in various roles.

Early years
Born in Midland, Ontario, and raised in Paris, Ontario, Muckler was a defenceman in the minor leagues for 13 seasons, playing the bulk of his career in the old Eastern Hockey League (EHL).

Muckler began his professional coaching career as a player/coach in 1959 with the EHL's New York Rovers. He then spent the next 20 years with the New York Rangers, Minnesota North Stars and Vancouver Canucks before joining the Edmonton Oilers organization in 1981. During those 20 years, Muckler served briefly as head coach of the Minnesota North Stars in 1968-69 and won multiple regular-season titles, playoff championships and league coach-of-the-year honours in the minor leagues. For his successes, The Sporting News named him the top coach in all of minor-league hockey in 1979.

While with the Oilers, Muckler served as an assistant coach with the Stanley Cup winners in 1984 and 1985 and was designated co-coach during the 1987 and 1988 championship seasons. Muckler became the team's head coach in 1989 and led the club to its fifth Stanley Cup in seven years in 1990.

In 1991, Muckler left the Oilers for the Buffalo Sabres. Initially the club's director of hockey operations, he quickly stepped behind the bench and coached the Sabres for the next four seasons. He also assumed the role of general manager in 1993. A finalist for NHL coach of the year in 1994, Muckler stepped down from coaching in 1995 to focus on his front-office duties and was named NHL executive of the year by The Sporting News for the 1996-97 season.

Prior to joining the Senators on June 12, 2002, Muckler last worked in the NHL as head coach of the New York Rangers from 1997-98 to 1999-2000.The last NHL game he coached, a home game in NY, fans chanted, "Fi-re, Muck-ler!" He has a 276–288–84 career record as an NHL head coach, a 233–167–53–7 career record as an NHL general manager and has been a head coach or general manager for more than 2,000 professional games. His résumé also includes three appearances at the NHL all-star game and two stints (1984 and '87) with Canada Cup-winning coaching staffs for Team Canada.

The Ottawa Senators announced that Muckler was relieved from his general manager duties with the organization on June 18, 2007 in a news conference, after being with the team for six years. They also announced that head coach Bryan Murray would be his successor.

Muckler was hired as a senior advisor with the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes in September 2008.

Death
Muckler passed away at his home in Buffalo on January 4, 2021, while recovering from open heart surgery. Muckler was survived by his wife, Audrey and five children.

Buffalo

 * Acquired Charlie Huddy, Robb Stauber and Alexei Zhitnik from Los Angeles Kings for Grant Fuhr, Philippe Boucher and Denis Tsygurov in 1995.
 * Acquired Michael Peca and Mike Wilson from Vancouver Canucks for Alexander Mogilny in 1995.
 * Acquired Miroslav Satan from  Edmonton Oilers  for Barrie Moore and Craig Millar in 1997

Ottawa

 * Acquired Brian Pothier from Atlanta Thrashers for Shawn McEachern and 6th round pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft on June 29, 2002
 * Acquired Peter Schaefer from Vancouver Canucks for Sami Salo on September 12, 2002
 * Acquired Vaclav Varada from Buffalo Sabres for Jakub Klepis on February 25, 2003
 * Acquired Peter Bondra from Washington Capitals for Brooks Laich and 2nd round pick in 2005 NHL Entry Draft on February 18, 2004
 * Acquired Greg De Vries from New York Rangers for Karel Rachunek and Alexandre Giroux on March 9, 2004
 * Signed Dominik Hašek in 2004
 * Acquired Dany Heatley from Atlanta Thrashers for Marian Hossa and Greg De Vries in 2005
 * Acquired 4th round pick (Ilya Zubov) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft from St. Louis for Patrick Lalime
 * Acquired Tyler Arnason from Chicago Blackhawks for Brandon Bochenski and a 2nd round pick in 2006 NHL Entry Draft on March 9, 2006.
 * Acquired Tom Preissing, Josh Hennessy, Michal Barinka and a 2nd round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft from Chicago Blackhawks for Martin Havlat and Bryan Smolinski on July 10, 2006.
 * Signed Martin Gerber in 2006.
 * Signed Joe Corvo in 2006
 * Acquired Mike Comrie from Phoenix Coyotes for Alexei Kaigorodov on January 3, 2007
 * Acquired Oleg Saprykin and a 7th round draft pick in the 2008 NHL entry draft for a 2nd round draft pick in the 2008 NHL entry draft.

Career statistics
--- Regular Season ---  Playoffs Season  Team                        Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM  GP   G   A Pts PIM -- 1949-50 Detroit Hettche             IHL    32    3    4    7   24  --  --  --  --  -- 1950-51 Detroit Hettche             IHL    14    0    0    0   28  --  --  --  --  -- 1951-52 Windsor Spitfires           OHA    48    2    3    5    0  --  --  --  --  -- 1952-53 Galt Black Hawks            OHA    54    6   16   22    0  --  --  --  --  -- 1954-55 Chatham Maroons             OHASr   7    0    1    1    0  --  --  --  --  -- 1955-56 Vancouver Canucks           WHL     1    0    0    0    0  --  --  --  --  -- 1955-56 Baltimore Clippers / Char   EHL    62   11   34   45   82  --  --  --  --  -- 1956-57 Charlotte Clippers          EHL    62    7   45   52  126  13   1   3   4   8 1957-58 Charlotte Clippers          EHL    61    9   35   44   51  14   1   3   4  10 1958-59 Charlotte Clippers          EHL    64    9   23   32   64  --  --  --  --  -- 1959-60 New York Rovers             EHL    64    8   25   33  105  --  --  --  --  -- 1960-61 New York Rovers             EHL    64    7   23   30  128  --  --  --  --  -- 1961-62 Long Island Ducks           EHL    68   10   26   36   99  --  --  --  --  -- 1962-63 Long Island Ducks           EHL    50    3   21   24   93  --  --  --  --  -- --

Coaching statistics
Season Team                          Lge Type             GP  W  L T OTL  Pct    Result 1964-65 Long Island Ducks            EHL  Head Coach      72 42 29 1   0 0.590 1965-66 Long Island Ducks            EHL  Head Coach      72 46 23 3   0 0.660 1967-68 Memphis South Stars          CPHL Head Coach      70 24 34 12  0 0.429 1968-69 Memphis South Stars          CHL  Head Coach      ---Replaced Mid-Season--- 1968-69 Minnesota North Stars        NHL  Head Coach      35  6 23  6  0 0.257 1970-71 Cleveland Barons             AHL  Head Coach      ---Replaced Mid-Season--- 1971-72 Cleveland Barons             AHL  Head Coach      76 32 34 10 0 0.487 Lost in round 1 1972-73 Cleveland/Jacksonville Barons AHL Head Coach      76 23 44 9  0 0.362 Out of Playoffs 1973-74 Providence Reds              AHL  Head Coach      76 38 26 12 0 0.579 Lost in Finals 1974-75 Providence Reds              AHL  Head Coach      76 43 21 12 0 0.645 Lost in round 1 1975-76 Providence Reds              AHL  Head Coach      76 34 34 8  0 0.500 Lost in round 1 1976-77 Rhode Island Reds            AHL  Head Coach      53 21 30 2  0 0.415 Out of Playoffs 1978-79 Dallas Black Hawks           CHL  Head Coach      76 45 28 3  0 0.612 Won Championship 1981-82 Wichita Wind                 CHL  Head Coach      80 44 33 3  0 0.569 Lost in round 2 1982-83 Edmonton Oilers              NHL  Assistant Coach 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers              NHL  Assistant Coach 1984-85 Edmonton Oilers              NHL  Assistant Coach 1985-86 Edmonton Oilers              NHL  Co-Coach 1986-87 Edmonton Oilers              NHL  Co-Coach 1987-88 Edmonton Oilers              NHL  Co-Coach 1988-89 Edmonton Oilers              NHL  Co-Coach 1989-90 Edmonton Oilers              NHL  Head Coach      80 38 28 14 0 0.562 Won Championship 1990-91 Edmonton Oilers              NHL  Head Coach      80 37 37  6 0 0.500 Lost in round 3 1991-92 Buffalo Sabres               NHL  Head Coach      52 22 22  8 0 0.500 Lost in round 1 1992-93 Buffalo Sabres               NHL  Head Coach      84 38 36 10 0 0.512 Lost in round 2 1993-94 Buffalo Sabres               NHL  Head Coach      84 43 32  9 0 0.565 Lost in round 1 1994-95 Buffalo Sabres               NHL  Head Coach      48 22 19  7 0 0.531 Lost in round 1 1997-98 New York Rangers             NHL  Head Coach      25 8 15   2 0 0.360 Out of Playoffs 1998-99 New York Rangers             NHL  Head Coach      82 33 38 11 0 0.470 Out of Playoffs 1999-00 New York Rangers             NHL  Head Coach      82 29 38 12 3 0.445 Out of Playoffs