Fansided

Every current NHL franchise’s most beloved head coach

By Griffin Youngs

(Original Caption) Detroit Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman with the Stanley Cup on day of Red Wings celebratory parade in Detroit. (Photo by © Ralf-Finn Hestoft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
(Original Caption) Detroit Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman with the Stanley Cup on day of Red Wings celebratory parade in Detroit. (Photo by © Ralf-Finn Hestoft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images) /
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EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – 1985: Edmonton Oilers coach Glen Sather watches the action on the rink against the New Jersey Devils at the Meadowlands Arena during the 1984-85 season in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – 1985: Edmonton Oilers coach Glen Sather watches the action on the rink against the New Jersey Devils at the Meadowlands Arena during the 1984-85 season in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Edmonton Oilers: Glen Sather

The Edmonton Oilers were at the top of the world in the mid-1980s, and defined what it meant to be a true sports dynasty year after year. This dynasty was led by the man who had led the Oilers since they had been brought into the NHL, none other than Glen Sather.

Sather was hired as a player coach in the 1976-77 World Hockey Association season, and scored a goal during his 18 game tenure. The next season in 1978, the Oilers were brought into the NHL with Sather now the full time head coach and made the playoffs in their first season, being swept by the Flyers.

Next year, Sather’s Oilers heated up late in the season and swept the juggernaut Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs for their first ever series win before bowing out to the New York Islanders next round.

In just their fourth year since moving to the NHL, Sather and his Wayne Gretzky-led Oilers advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, but were swept by the New York Islanders in the midst of their domination of the league. However, this loss only made them stronger. Led by the Great One Gretsky, Mark Messier, Grant Fuhr, Glenn Anderson and Paul Coffey, the Oilers made it back to the Stanley Cup Finals to face the Islanders again. This time they got the job done. They beat the Islanders in five games to claim the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Sather didn’t stop there either, the Oilers won the Stanley Cup the next season over the Flyers. Sather won two more Stanley Cups with Gretzky and the Oilers, but eventually Wayne Gretzky was traded to the LA Kings, and Sather relinquished his spot as head coach after losing in seven games to Gretzky’s Kings and stayed on as the teams general manager. The Oilers would win one more Cup with Sather as the general manager in 1990.

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