Scotty Bowman

William Scott "Scotty" Bowman (born September 18, 1933 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a former National Hockey League head coach. He is the winningest coach in league history, with 1,244 wins in the regular season and 223 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He has coached the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Detroit Red Wings.

As head coach, Bowman has won a record nine Stanley Cups with the Canadiens (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979), Penguins (1992) and Red Wings (1997, 1998, and 2002). He was also part of the 1991 Penguins Stanley Cup winning team as director of player development. He won the Jack Adams Award in 1977 and 1996. In the 1976-77 season he won a record 60 games and broke his own record with 62 wins in 1995-96. No other head coach in the history of the NHL, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, or the National Basketball Association has won championships with three different teams.



Early years
Bowman played minor league hockey until a head injury ended his playing career. He started coaching with the Ottawa Junior Canadiens, an independent (non-league) team in 1956. Two year later, the team coached by Bowman and managed by Sam Pollock won the Memorial Cup in 1958. Soon thereafter, he moved into a coaching job with the Peterborough Petes of the OHA, the Montreal Canadiens' junior farm team.

Bowman moved into the NHL in 1967 when he joined the expansion St. Louis Blues as assistant coach to Lynn Patrick. However, Patrick resigned after a slow start, and Bowman became coach at age 34. The Blues caught fire, and made it to the Stanley Cup finals in their first three years of existence. Bowman coached in St. Louis until the end of the 1970-71 season (his first NHL season with a losing record), but left after team owner Sid Salomon reneged on a promise to make him general manager as well.

Bowman then joined the Montreal Canadiens as head coach. His team lost in the first round of the playoffs in 1972 but won the Stanley Cup in 1973. The Canadiens would make the playoffs over the next two seasons but bow out in the first and third rounds, respectively as the rival Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup. From 1976 to 1979, Bowman won four consecutive Stanley Cups with a talented Canadiens squad that included Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Larry Robinson and Ken Dryden. Bowman's team won at least 45 games in each of his eight seasons. However, when the Canadiens refused to make him general manager as well as coach, Bowman left the team. He is still the second-winningest coach in Canadiens history.

The 1980s
For the 1979-80 season, he moved to the Buffalo Sabres as coach and general manager. He served as the team's general manager until 1987, doubling as coach on three separate occasions. During this time, he missed the playoffs for the only time in his career, in the 1985-86 season.

Bowman joined the Sabres around the same time that their stars were growing old. After failing to turn the Sabres into a winner, he quit hockey temporarily in 1987 to become an analyst for the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. He became the Director of Player Personnel of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1990 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991 as a builder.

The 1990s
After the death of Bob Johnson, who had just won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins the previous season, Bowman took over as coach. Under Bowman, the Penguins repeated as Stanley Cup champions in a season dedicated to Johnson.

The next season, the Penguins had their first 100-point season in franchise history, and finished with the league's best record. Their 119 points is still a franchise record. In the playoffs, the Penguins were upended in the Patrick Division finals by the New York Islanders.

In 1993-94, Bowman then became coach of the Red Wings, and led them to a first-place finish in the Western Conference, but his Red Wings were ousted in the first round by the young San Jose Sharks. In 1995, the Red Wings made it to the Stanley Cup Finals but were swept by the New Jersey Devils in four straight. This was the Red Wings' first appearance in the finals in 29 years. In the 1995-96 regular season, he won a record 62 games. However, they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals. In the 1997 playoffs, Bowman led the team to its first Stanley Cup in 42 years by sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0. The Red Wings repeated the feat the following season by sweeping the Washington Capitals. In 1999, they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Semi-Finals.

The 2000s and Retirement
Bowman decided in February 2002 that he would retire at the end of the season and he went out as a winner as his Red Wings won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 4 games to 1. It was after the presentation of the Cup on the ice that Bowman publicly announced his retirement from coaching. He is the second-winningest coach in Red Wings history, behind only Jack Adams and is also the second-winningest coach in Sabres history, behind Lindy Ruff. His brother, Jack, was a longtime scout for the Buffalo Sabres, his nephew, Steve Bowman, is a scout for the Washington Capitals, and his son, Stan, is the director of player personnel of the Chicago Blackhawks. Bowman currently lives in East Amherst, New York.

Bowman remains with Detroit as a senior adviser to the team's management, and also occasionally made appearances on ESPN as a pre-game analyst. In 2003 Bowman was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

On August 3, 2007, it was reported that Bowman was offered the position of President of the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, Bowman quickly denied the report in an e-mail to TSN stating "I have not received an offer from the Leafs, and I don't expect one either."

1948 Midget
In 1947-48, Bowman played on the Quebec midget champion Verdun Spartons. He is the player on the left in the front row: