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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MONTREAL, QC – APRIL 18: Marcel Bonin #18 of the Montreal Canadiens hugs the Stanley Cup Trophy as head coach Toe Blake holds up four fingers to indicate four straight Stanley Cup victories for the Canadiens after Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 18, 1959 at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by B Bennett/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC – APRIL 18: Marcel Bonin #18 of the Montreal Canadiens hugs the Stanley Cup Trophy as head coach Toe Blake holds up four fingers to indicate four straight Stanley Cup victories for the Canadiens after Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 18, 1959 at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by B Bennett/Getty Images) /

Montreal Canadiens: Hector “Toe” Blake

For a team with such a deep and successful history, choosing a single most beloved coach is not an easy task at all. With coaches like Scotty Bowman and Dick Irvin, choosing just one is difficult, but Hector ‘Toe’ Blake edges out the compeititon.

Blake is not only the most beloved coach in Montreal Canadiens history, but one of the best coaches the league has ever seen. He ranks second all time in Stanley Cups with eight and won 500 of 914 games in his career.

Before becoming a head coach, Blake was a spectacular player for the Canadiens, registering 235 goals and 292 assists for a career total of 527 points. Blake’s career ended after a collision saw hit the boards at an awkward angle and suffer a double fracture of his ankle.

Montreal brought Blake aboard to the organization as the head coach in the 1955-56 season, and began a tenure with the Canadiens that is very likely to never be matched ever again in the history of the NHL. Blake won eight Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens, five of the consecutively in his first five seasons with the team. It took ten consecutive playoff series for the Canadiens to finally go down after five seasons, and they didn’t stay down for long. Five years later the Blake led Canadiens won another Stanley cup and another the year after that. Two years later, Blake won one more for good measure.

No other coach in Canadiens history has matched his 500 regular season wins with the club, and no coach in the NHL will come close to matching the amount of Cups won during his tenure.

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