Fansided

NHL Power Rankings: Who is the best head coach in the league?

By Dave Stevenson

Jun 26, 2015; Sunrise, FL, USA; A general view of the NHL shield logo before the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 26, 2015; Sunrise, FL, USA; A general view of the NHL shield logo before the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 31
Next

Who is the best head coach in the NHL? 

The NHL has 30 head coaches. There are always debates about how much influence a head coach has over their team and if head coach A is a better head coach than head coach B. It’s quite hard to determine how good a coach is because they aren’t coaching equal teams. There are some excellent head coaches on some really bad teams. Conversely, there are some bad head coaches on some good teams.

So how does one determine how good a head coach is? Look at what they can control. For this list, team talent, utilization, and overall success were all taken into account. It boils down to three questions.

  1. Does the head coach consistently exceed expectations or make the playoffs?
  2. How good of a team has the head coach had over the years?
  3. Has the coach had success?

For each of the NHL’s thirty head coaches, these three questions were answered to determine which head coach is the best in the league. Stats like winning percentage, playoff births, playoff record, and puck possession stats will be taken into account. Intangibles such as making adjustments, getting the most out of talent, and roster utilization will also be considered. Creating this list was difficult because the difference between the head coaches who aren’t terrible and the just below elite head coaches is quite small.

For more NHL news, be sure to check out our NHL hub page.

Next: #30: Bill Peters

Home/Anaheim Ducks