November 19, 2010

Former NHL coach Pat Burns passes away: Pat Burns, who coached the New Jersey Devils to the 2003 Stanley Cup Championship, passed away today after a courageous bout with cancer. Burns' previous NHL head coaching positions included Boston from May 21, 1997 until October 25, 2000. In 1997-98, he became the first coach in history to win 3 Jack Adams Awards as the league's top coach. Burns coached Toronto from May 29, 1992 through March 5, 1996. In his first season with Toronto, he received the Adams Award for the second time. Burns became just the 3rd individual to win multiple Adams Awards and only the 2nd to win it with more than one team. His first NHL head coaching experience was with Montreal from 1988-89 through 1991-92. In his first season with the Canadiens, he won his first Adams Award.

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 06:47 PM - 9 comments

Are they sure this time?

posted by MeatSaber at 07:24 PM on November 19, 2010

.

posted by Spitztengle at 08:46 PM on November 19, 2010

.

posted by tommybiden at 09:14 PM on November 19, 2010

I'm glad he got a chance to win that Stanley Cup.
I'm glad he got a chance to see people praise him after the original mistaken death announcement.
I'm glad for the years he was with the Leafs, as those were some of the most exciting teams I had the pleasure to watch in the past 30+ years.
I wish he had gotten his hands on Barry Melrose that one night...

I am pissed that if he does get elected to the Hall of Fame in the future, they couldn't have done that for him before he passed away.

posted by grum@work at 10:31 PM on November 19, 2010

So long to a great personality and coach. Decent cop too, I imagine.

posted by yerfatma at 09:38 AM on November 20, 2010

In a similar vein to MeatSaber's comment, I can see Pat Burns, wearing his best cop/stern coach face, saying, "...and this time I mean it!" He was one of those individuals who did well at anything he tried, and who with his sharp sense of humor managed to befriend those with whom he came in contact while doing it.

.

posted by Howard_T at 02:38 PM on November 20, 2010

Hats off to a life well lived. Bob McKenzie's piece on TSN is worth reading.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 01:51 PM on November 21, 2010

From The Fan 590 in Toronto

posted by tommybiden at 08:42 PM on November 21, 2010

.

While I am not a fan of any of the teams that he coached, I lived in Boston while he was coaching the Bruins so I saw a lot of their games on TV. It always seemed to me that his teams played hard and very rarely was he out coached.

posted by Demophon at 08:02 AM on November 22, 2010

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