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 professional hockey coach Bryan Murray, head coach of the Washington Capitals, stands with his hands on his hips behind the bench during a game at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, March 1985. His brother assistant coach Terry Murray stands at the far left. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images)
Canadian professional hockey coach Bryan Murray, head coach of the Washington Capitals, stands with his hands on his hips behind the bench during a game at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, March 1985. His brother assistant coach Terry Murray stands at the far left. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images) /

Washington Capitals: Bryan Murray

We know the history of the Washington Capitals. It’s not rich, tainted with of failure and full of punchlines. When the Capitals were brought into the league in 1974, they posted the worst season in NHL history with just eight wins. Things never really got better from there, and the Capitals continued to miss the playoffs. That all changed with Bryan Murray

Murray brought the Capitals out of the basement immediately in his second season with team with their first playoff qualification in team history. He changed their identity as a carpet for everything other team in the league to a playoff team that deserved respect game-by-game.

In his third year as the Capitals Head Coach, Murray led the team to it’s first ever playoff series victory with a 3-0 sweep over the Philadelphia Flyers, but bowed out to the Islanders again in the next round.

The Washington Capitals reached the postseason for the next seven straight seasons after never making the playoffs once in their first eight seasons.

The brief successes the Capitals have had might not have come with Murray, but he brought them out of futility and at least set them up for future successes. He laid the foundation for a team that was nothing more than a pathetic joke and at the very least turned them into a respectable consistent playoff team. The Capitals are still looking for their first serious success with a Stanley Cup win.

In August 2017, Bryan Murray passed away of colon cancer at the age of 74, three years after his diagnosis. As the former coach of the Capitals and Senators, he was honored when the two teams met in the first game of the 2017-18 season.

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