Keith Allen

Keith Allen (born August 21, 1923) is a retired professional ice hockey player and is a former National Hockey League head coach and general manager. He was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. As of 2009, he is executive vice president of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Playing career
Allen played junior hockey for the Saskatoon Quakers in 1940–41, and then joined the Washington Eagles of the Eastern Amateur Hockey League for the 1941–42 season, followed by a year with the Buffalo Bisons of the American Hockey League. During the Second World War, he played on the Saskatoon Navy hockey team, and then played the 1945–46 season in the Western Canada Senior Hockey League with the Saskatoon Elks.

In 1946, Allen joined the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League, and played on that team for five years, followed by three seasons with the Syracuse Warriors. He was traded back to Springfield in February 1954, but refused to report to Eddie Shore's team, and was instead sent to the Detroit Red Wings. He played 10 games with Detroit in the 1953–54 season and played in the playoffs, getting his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. Allen played another 18 games for the Red Wings in 1954–55, which would be the end of his NHL playing career. During his playing career he was nicked named "Bingo"

For most of the 1954–55 season, Allen played in the Western Hockey League for the Edmonton Flyers—a Detroit affiliate—on a team that included future Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Johnny Bucyk, Norm Ullman, Glenn Hall, Al Arbour, and player-coach Bud Poile. He then played one season with the Brandon Regals before being hired by the Seattle Americans as player-head coach in 1956. He retired as a player in 1957 to become a full-time coach.



Coaching/management career
From 1956 to 1965, Allen was a head coach in the Western Hockey League with the Seattle Americans/Seattle Totems, with only one losing season in eight years. With the NHL expansion in 1967, Allen was hired as the first head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, with his former coach and teammate Bud Poile as general manager. In their inaugural season, the Flyers finished first in their division with the best record among the six new teams. They fell to third place in their division in the 1968–69 NHL season, and Allen then became the Flyers' general manager. There, he would help construct the famed "Broad Street Bullies" that led the Flyers to consecutive Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975, earning the nickname "Keith the Thief". He would also help start the AHL's Maine Mariners, one of the most successful franchises in that league's history.

Allen was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a Builder in 1992. He is currently the executive vice president of the Flyers.