The WORST Coach For All 32 NHL Teams 

Hot Take: Mike Babcock should replace Dave King for Columbus. To be so bad you can't get a single win in the regular season.

Edmonton Oilers WORST coach was George Burnett. He was so horrible that GM Glen Sather fired him and actually took over the coaching for the rest of the year. Then again. Picking a terrible Oilers coach since the dynasty is like shooting fish in a barrel, take your pick.

What's the point of having Punch Imlach and Mario Tremblay on this list and not having Mike Keenan be the worst coach in St.Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks history? Keenan ruined the Canucks during his time as head coach and while with the blues, he took Brett Hull's captaincy because Hull had the audacity to mad at Keenan for benching Hawerchuk the last game his dying grandmother ever saw in person.

Rick Boness was NOT the worst coach in Ottawa. Ottawa was screwed by the league in the expansion draft. No coach could have won any more games with this team. The worst coach for Ottawa was Dave Allison and Craig Hartsburg. With a dishonourable mention to Marc Crawford.

That fact that you even CONSIDERED Trotz as the worst coach in Nashvilles history is just awful.

Dallas Eakins' record with the Oilers doesn't begin to tell the story of the damage he did to the team; a lot of promising players saw their development go in to the ditch during those two seasons, and some of them never really recovered.

Mike Kennan single handedly dismantled the Blues

Great players rarely make good coaches. Bill Russell, Ted Williams, Bart Starr, Isaiah Thomas, Magic Johnson to name a few were all phenomenal players but like Gretzky made for terrible coaches. That said, when it comes to terrible coaches for the Flyers, yeah Homer was bad but for some reason they made him GM and he still has a lot of control over the team which is why this team has stunk for the last 10 years.

For the Devils, it has to be John MacLean. Fantastic player in NJ history, but he took a team that won back to back division titles to an awful start, only to turn the team over to Jacques Lemaire and they started winning again.

I think you should reconsider the Vancouver Canucks entry. As unimpressive as Laycoe was, nothing in Canucks history compares to Bill LaForge. He only lasted 20 games, posting 4 wins. I still remember the 13-2 loss that sealed his fate.

Just a comment on the Jets franchise - they did not 'lose' 30 games in a row, rather, they didn't win a game in that 30 game span. They did have 'ties' as back then there was no overtime. I can't recall specifically how many ties (you can look it up if you want) but I believe it was 7 ties. They beat the Colorado Rockies (who later moved to NJ and became the Devils) 5 to 3 at home just before or just after Christmas to break that streak. Their first win was their first home game, a 6 to 2 drubbing of the Blackhawks. It was their 2nd NHL season - the first year we were full of veteran AHL players or NHL player no longer good enough for the NHL, like Lorne Stamler and Hilliard Graves to name a couple. That 2nd year all those players were jettisoned and we had the youngest team by far in the NHL.

A coach's won/loss record alone doesn't make him "the worst" coach in a team's history. In Ebbie Goodfellow's case, the head coaching position was the least of the Blackhawks' problems during that era. In my opinion the worst actual coach they've employed was Alpo Suhonen, who was employed by the team's worst general manager, Mike Smith. Suhonen stood, immobile, behind the bench during the 2000-01 season (one of his nicknames was "Benny Hill on xanax"), he had serious difficulties communicating, to put it mildly, hockey at times took a back seat to his theatre interests. He just should never been put in that position and the team (and his benefactor, Smith) removed him "for his health" before the end of his only season as NHL head coach.

There are many reasons this season has been a success! Upper management has added the right pieces, the team is playing to their potential, they are healthy but Tocchet should win coach of the year for the system he has implemented! The accountability factor is huge!

Coaches make poor decisions trading players? Thought that was the GMs job.

Jacques Demers may have been terrible in Tampa, but he was instrumental in developing Vinny Lecavalier

I'm definitely putting DJ Smith as worst Ottawa's coach. Lack of care, lack of leadership and the team under achieved many times with the talent they have. If it wasn't for Melnyk being cheap and the sale of the team, he would of been fired way earlier then that

From my understanding, Punch Imlach was the inside man for then Leafs' owner Harold Ballard. However, even Ballard had enough of Imlach's heart attacks and gave him the pink slip. George Armstrong, the guy who sealed Toronto's Cup win in '67 with an empty netter could also be a candidate for worst coach as he let the assistant coach do everything. Same goes for Mike Babcock, who bullied Mitch Marner and other players wherever he coached.

Punch Imlach was your choice for the "worst" coach of the Leafs ever? Punch Imlach? The same Punch Imlach who was the longest serving coach in their history, who won 4 Stanley Cups with the Leafs, who had an overall .562 winning percentage and who NEVER had a losing record in the seasons or part seasons he coached them? (He went 5-5 even in 1980!) That Punch Imlach? Most hated does not equal worst when you could have included Peter Horachek (.274 winning percentage), Ron Wilson (not a horrible record but never made the playoffs in his 4 seasons), John Brophy (.378, often made the playoffs only because pretty much everyone made the playoffs back then), Dan Maloney (.328), even Billy Reay or Howie Meeker going back to the 50's. But you chose Punch Imlach?

All I remember whenever the Canucks playing the Coyotes was Wayne Gretzky freaking out all the time behind the bench. He was not a happy camper coaching Phoenix...

Torts turned Philly around. He still talks about how he can't believe he's the first coach to have Travis Konecny on the PK.... and now he's one of the top shorthanded players in the NHL. LOL. They have the best PK in the league (or close to it) and have done so with guys that weren't usually PK guys. And look, they are tied for 1st (or maybe they are in 2nd now) for most shorthanded goals. AND, they are I believe 2nd in the Met.

Maurice Richard was also a horrible coach. So I guess great players like Richard and Gretzky make terrible coaches.

Just some correction Todd Nelson was not the coach he was just an intern until they hired a replacement.

While everything you said about Imlach is true, but he only coached 10 games during Sittler's tenure as he was the GM at the time. John Brophy is the worst coach in Leafs history.

Living through a lot of bad coaching from 67 to present I can understand that Imlach train wreck in his second coming as GM…but Mike Nykoluk, John Brophy and poor Peter Horachek were far worse.

I think the Bruins worst coach is steve kasper. He pissed off veterans and helped turn a team that made the playoffs 30 straight years into a team that needed a full rebuild. Adam Oates and Ray Bourque both asked for trades and it took the bruins several seasons before they got their momentum back.

Just in case anyone did not know about Mike Milbury, many people think he was ordered to make these moves by upper management, but in actuality, only one (the Zigmund Palffy trade with LA) was ordered by upper management to clear money. Upper management also wanted to win now (ie. late 1990s/early 2000s), so while they sort of worked (made the playoffs 2002-2004, lost in Round 1 each time, fought well against Toronto in 2002), the post-lockout years were disastrous. And the DiPietro contract in 2006? That was Garth Snow. Could have been 7, even 9 straight years out of the playoffs until the mid-2010s

I’m going off an a limb 4 seconds into the video, as an Avs fan, and saying our worst was Patrick Roy. When he was named head coach, I was so excited. I grew up watching hockey and my dad and uncle both got me into hockey telling me stories of the old days and those goat players. But man, those handful of Roy years were so bad.

Still have a hard time accepting Tocchet as a coach in this league, considering his gambling association, and his eye-gouging history.

The first head coach for any expansion team should be exempt from your list of a franchise's worst coach.

Bob Hartley should’ve made this list for a couple of teams being the Atlanta Thrashers and Calgary Flames. Word is Hartley could be a good coach but was even a worse person. Also known for his goon tactics as he was responsible for starting the brawl in 2014 between the Flames and Canucks.

Canucks Hal laycoe was unfortnate being their first coach. However the Canucks worst coach has got to be Ernie Punch McLean who took the New West Bruins to two Memorial cups won in broad street bully fashion. He skated the team into the ice during practices, sat the best players for not being tough enough and gave more ice time to the enforcers.

for the Sens, you should put DJ Smith (as a sens fan)

There isn’t much that can be done to tarnish the Coyotes that they didn’t do to themselves. Gretzky wasn’t a terrible coach, he just had a horrible team to work with and a management group that couldn’t work together.

I would select Mike Keenan for the Flames He didn’t deliver and didn’t practice special teams- and it showed He basically seemed to phone it in

“A team as good as the Red Wings”?! Not in the 1970s, aka the Dead Wings Era. They didn’t start turning it around until the drafted Stevie Y in 1983.

Thank God the flyers are on the right track under briere and jonesy. Holmgren, hextall and Clark’s involvement over the last million years it’s seemed didn’t make me feel like they really had a full grasp on what they were doing

I have a video idea Go over all 32 nhl teams best player this season ( who you think it is and why and stats)

Paul Holmgren made this list twice. Impressive.

I was a bit surprised that the Avalanche wasn't Patrick Roy. Speaking of him, I would have kept him and fired the coach. It's hilarious how some minds work

Flyers Holmrgen 36-36 explains a lot of Flyers the past season. this is a .500 franchise. maybe this year its a little bit better but season is still going.

No honorable mention for Babcock in Columbus?

A good list, although I don’t care if a franchise was bought and called something else 20-30 years ago, Holmgren never coached the Hurricanes, Brooks never coached the Dallas Stars, Fraser never coached the resurged Winnipeg Jets and Chambers never coached the Avs.

Milbury ruined 2 franchises!

I love how this guy pronounces it "Dee-Troit."

I'm aware that this video is 2 months old but I still don't know how you missed Mike Keenan for the Vancouver Canucks do you want to talk about a disastrous 10 year

Gotta go with Mike Johnston for the Pens. He inherited a very good team and did absolutely nothing with it. Mike Sullivan then immediately proceeded to win back to back cups. Tough to be a coach for a team in tank mode

I knew for the Rangers, it would be Trottier. That was a truly baffling hire right from the start.

I didnt know that Pagé was that bad in Anaheim. Crazy because here in Berlin he was the father of success and brought us our first championship and was the reason for an 8 year domination in the german DEL. His mind was always like keep the tradition while playing modern hockey. Thats why Eisbären Berlin are the best team ever in germany ;)

I would have placed Barry Melrose as the worst LA Kings coach he took a Stanley Cup contending team right into the toilet.

Remember Trotz was the coach of an expansion team

thank god you said Tremblay for MTL... i woulda lost faith if it were anyone else

This list is crazy accurate! 👏 👏 only miss imo is Jeremy Colliton for Chicago. Dude took several HOFers and made them a bad team post Quenneville

Coaching and playing are two different things... sometimes there is cross over and success mostly not.

The Red Wings were known as the Dead Wings in the 70s, they were totally horrible

Similar to your logic about The Montreal Canadiens & Mario Tremblay, I'd say that Orvell Tessier should be The Chicago Black Hawks (as The Chicago Blackhawks were then called) choice, since, not only did he somehow find a way to do so poorly with Chicago & Very Good Players, but, as was the case with Tremblay/Roy, The Tessier/Esposito thing came much earlier, as Tessier would go to NHL War against his #1 Goalie, Tony Esposito. Tony O was on his way to The Hockey Hall Of Fame, when Tessier decided to Exile him, in favor of Rookie Murray Bannerman. While I'm not knocking him & acknowledge that the change was upcoming, since Tony O Esposito was 40ish & not as good as he had been while The Rookie was showing promise, Tessier decided to put him in over Tony O in the final game 7 in The Series vs. Minnesota (North Stars). It should be noted, that, not only did Tony O thrive in games in which all was on the line (1972 Summit Series - Team Canada vs. The Soviets - playing better than the other 2 Goalies), but, even if it weren't Tony O Esposito, you've always got to go with Your Best To Date. Let me know what you think

IDK, I think John Muckler had a worst record as Rangers coach. Sometimes I believe that Trots was acting as a double-agent for the Islanders, and sabotaged the Rangers. Then again, they had been a dumpster fire for the previous five seasons

Worst gm for all nhl teams would be interesting

Let me explain this I saw the title of this video and I knew who the Islanders pick would be before I started watching. Mike Milburry is the only possible choice.

I'm so tired of fans saying this player was great so they should be made Coach/Manager or GM. We've seen over the years in every sport where great players made terrible team leaders. From ownership spots making bad hiring decisions to GM making terrible drafts and or trades to Coaches benching great players over no reason but ego to trying to see what a younger player could do instead of benching a mediocre player instead. Bad play calling doesn't help either. Just in Baseball, we've seen more bad players or middle of the road guys be way more successful than the greats. Football has become the worst of late, just take the Bears, I live in Illinois so this will be easy. I hear every single time it's new coach time to hire great former players because they know how to play "Bears Football". Who cares that the rules have drastically changed during the time, players egos have skyrocketed because of their insane pay to stubbornness to want to run the ball even when they don't have a line or decent running back. Let's take a running QB and make him a pocket passer even though he can't read the defense, have your slowest receiver run deep routes just because. Let the former greats be spokesmen for the team but for god sake leave them out of 'power positions". There are SOME exceptions but no where near enough to try it.

Nobody remembers nor cares about Tocchet’s gambling ring, especially with how it’s the biggest thing in the US right now. So idk how it tarnishes the franchise nor the Gretzky name.

Mention ShowDown (insert year here), viewers see a picture from the Showcase segment of The Price is Right with Bob Barker closing the show.

Seattle’s looked way better lately and in the run for a playoff spot now. I actually think they way overperformed last year with the pieces they had. What theyre doing this year seems about right

you know what they say: those that can't teach, do.

Eakins era Oilers... christ... a team of plugs and enforcers. Nail Yakupov LMAO. God, those were dark days XD

@16:01 That's Zigmund Palffy, not Bryan McCabe

Imagine choosing a losing coach over roy😂😂😂😂

Todd Richards was dull, forgettable, and didn't accomplish anything with Minnesota. At the same time, he didn't really have much to work with. Mike Yeo was at the helm with promising prospects in Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund, and Jason Zucker but instead favored vets like Koivu, Parise, and Suter. He allowed division in the locker room and didn't hold Suter accountable for his antics. He might have had a better record than Richards and a longer tenure, but he should have done more than a single advancement to the second round with the teams he had.

You missed the worst coach ever for the Vancouver Canucks. Bill LaForge was the oust bar none.

@12:13 I don't think Todd Richards record of 77-71-16 is below .500.

The worst coach in Blue Jackets history is Mike Babcock. Walked away with millions and never coached a single game.

Mike keenan for the nuks all the way. Dude destroyed the canucks for YEARS

Someone had to have been chosen for Vegas and Seattle in technicality.

Tocchet earned tenure for taking the hit for gretzky !

Idk king for the blue jackets doesn’t seem fair. They basically had a jv high school team

No one did less with more than Orville Tessier with the Blackhawks. Absolutely unwatchable hockey.

Canucks: I would disagree with the choice, since expansion teams got jack shit to help them in those days. (Rather choose Bill LaForge for his brief tenure.) I would also dispute the choice of Tortorella for "most disliked / worst personality" coach in Canucks history. Torts was maybe third or second-worst - nobody needed to be gotten rid of for the greater good like Mike Keenan.

Did not see Canucks on here

You left off Mike Keenan in Vancouver. He screwed them for years and ran Trevor Linden out of town.

Maybe instead of showing Kurt Russell, you should actually show Herb Brooks. Complete lack of respect.

Holmgren's record was not all that bad. NHL teams would gladly have accepted that record percentage.

For the Lightning it has to be Barry Melrose over Jacques Demers.

My opinion as Bruins fan, Dave Lewis for recently bias from mid 2000s. Steve Kaspar awful too infamous for benching Cam Neely

Mike Keenan is the worst thing to happen to the Blues!!! (With the exception of Ralston Purina which is a company, not a coach.) I think this video is often just going by team records which is often more on the players or GM. Sometimes on the coach, but not always. Keenan was given a great cast to work with, and proceeded to infuriate everyone in St. Louis by being a power mad asshole. For a few year in St. Louis any mention of "The prince of all darkness and evil that walks the earth" during a sports conversation was understood by all to be Mike Keenan.

Bob pulford Era for the blackhawks-terrible dullard who was old man Wirtz es lapdog-co-he was a gm also who picked players who would be ok 4th line players---quit following blackhawks until pulford left

Imlach was not the worst Leaf coach. Get real. 4 cups and a winning record.

Punch and Babcock one in the same?

Habs worst Coach was Boom Boom.

jackets worst coach was babcock

No Melrose for Tampa?

Punch Imlach shouldn't be on this list based on the championships, despite the intangibles. Ron Wilson is the worst coach in Leafs history, coaching nearly 4 years and missing the playoffs each time.

glen say-ther

Duh. Dave Lewis was the worst coach in Bruins history. Watson couldn't hold Lewis' jock strap for bad coaching.

So the preds have been successful no matter what. That’s nice.

So it’s not DJ smith 17:17

All of the Terrys.. LA Kings.. terrible.

I’m a Devils fan, I’m surprised Johnny Mac. He was awful!

Anaheim: Randy Carlyle during his second stint Arizona: Wayne Gretzky Boston: Don Cherry Buffalo: Ralph Krueger Calgary: Darryl Sutter (second stint) Carolina: Bill Peters Chicago: Jeremy Colliton Colorado: Patrick Roy Columbus: Mike Babcock Dallas: Glen Gulutzan Detroit: Jeff Blashill Edmonton: Dallas Eakins Florida: Bob Boughner LA: Terry Murray Minnesota: Bruce Boudreau Montreal: Mario Tremblay Nashville: John Hynes New Jersey: John Hynes NY Islanders: Mike Milbury NY Rangers: David Quinn Ottawa: D.J. Smith Philadelphia: Alain Vigneault Pittsburgh: Mike Johnston San Jose: David Quinn St. Louis: Mike Kitchen (tarnished by the Mike Danton scandal) Tampa Bay: Guy Boucher Toronto: Ron Wilson Vancouver: Willie Desjardins Washington: Adam Oates Winnipeg: Bob Hartley Speaking of Hynes, his tenure would not have ended poorly if the Preds remained healthy (Saros going down in 2022 was the main reason Nashville got swept by Colorado) The same can be said with Peter DeBoer and the Golden Knights, where they could have won a Cup or two and made the playoffs in 2022 had they stayed healthy

Colorado with :Sakic forsberg Selane karya hejduk ... Blake Foote Morris ,,,, and you are unable to win!

Mike Keenan was the Blues absolutely worst coach. Nearly destroyed the franchise.

The worst Bs coach is Steve Kasper - SORRY