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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Canadian ice hockey coach Punch Imlach (1918 – 1987) (born George Imlach) (center) of the Toronto Maple Leafs poses with two of his players, Andy Bathgate (left) and Don McKenney, in the locker room during the 1963 – 1964 season. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images)
Canadian ice hockey coach Punch Imlach (1918 – 1987) (born George Imlach) (center) of the Toronto Maple Leafs poses with two of his players, Andy Bathgate (left) and Don McKenney, in the locker room during the 1963 – 1964 season. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images) /

Toronto Maple Leafs: Punch Imlach

As one of the longest tenured franchises in the NHL, the Leafs have had their share of excellent coaches in their history. With a such a long drought without a Cup, Toronto values the times when they were successful, and that last time was with the great George “Punch” Imlach.

Imlach became coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1958-59 as his first head coaching job. The Leafs had missed the playoffs for consecutive seasons for the first time in thirty years and were in need of some changes. In his first season with the team, the Maple Leafs didn’t just make the playoffs, they made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. The next season they did the same, but couldn’t take either one and lost both years to the Montreal Canadiens.

In 1961-62, the Leafs won the Stanley Cup over the Chicago Blackhawks, but that was just the beginning. The Maple Leafs won it again the next year after an even more dominant season over the Detroit Red Wings, and won it once again the next season.

When Imlach had a falling out with the organization over his aggressive coaching style and fired him after a playoff loss to the Bruins, Leafs Johnny Bower and Tim Horton both said they would leave with Imlach and not return. But it didn’t work, and Imlach was let go.

When Imlach left the Leafs, Imlach would became the first head coach in the history of the brand new Buffalo Sabres. He resigned in his second season and did one last run with the Maple Leafs in 1979.

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