Quote:
Originally Posted by Madrox
I don't know that there's any truth to that. Iggy, at least based on history, isn't likely to be a good coach. Most good coaches are guys that were almost good enough, or guys that had to work their nuts off to be in the league. Gretzky's the easiest example, he couldn't understand why guys couldn't do what he wanted them to. The guys who are the best coaches are the guys who had to work the hardest to have a chance, because they already had to study the game to even be in the conversation.
Boudreau played parts of 15 years in the minors, Gallant was more or less a grinder with a few solid years in the middle, Tortorella was in the precursor to the ECHL for a half dozen years after college, Quennville was a defensive defenceman in the most offensive period in hockey (you damn near had to try to not score more than 30 points in the early to mid 80s), and Trotz as far as I can tell never played beyond Juniors.
I don't know any top coaches that were also top players, because the guys that had it naturally come to them could never help the guys who didn't. I'd wager of all the great Flames in my lifetime, Mark Giordano is the only one who has a hope in hell of being a great coach, because he had to work his nuts off for every chance he got. Gelinas definitely had talent, but he also had to work and learn, so he might not be half bad. Geoff Ward, well, he doesn't have any history as a player, which is irrelevant until he sucks. He may suck.
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Larry Robinson won a cup as a last minute replacement and then went to the Finals the next year. But then he sort of petered out as a head coach and became a long time AC. He’s the only guy in the modern era who was even close to Iginla’s level and became a successful coach that I can think of.
Carlyle was a good player. So were Ruff and Tocchet. But not elite.
The list of players who got HC gigs based a lot on their rep as a top player and who failed is longer. Gretzky, Roy (but he did a while in junior), Delvecchio, Ftorek. The list of great coaches who never played at all at the NHL level is way longer.