Edmonton Oilers: Three most successful coaches in franchise history
The Edmonton Oilers have had a pretty great run as an NHL franchise including five Stanley Cups and a lot of great seasons along the way. When looking at the history of the franchise though which coaches stand out from the rest of the pack to be the best of the best?
The Edmonton Oilers have had 16 different coaches in team history.
From 1980 to now there have been 16 different coaches behind the bench, so which ones stand out to be the best in team history? That is the question we want to answer today. While most successful doesn’t always just mean most wins in the regular season, that does play a factor.
Of Edmonton’s 16 different coaches, 11 of them were for two seasons or less, and so you can believe none of those bench bosses will be on this list, except for one who was a part of the organization for a long time.
Let’s jump in with number three on the list:
3. John Muckler:
John Muckler very well could be number two on this list as he is one of two coaches to win Stanley Cups with this team. Muckler was an assistant coach during the Oilers’ first four championships and after Glen Sather stepped down, he took over the team to lead them to their fifth championship in 1990.
Muckler ranks fifth all-time on the Oilers win list with 75 wins during the regular season. He is second though with 25 wins during the playoffs. It would have been great if Muckler spent more time in a coaching role with the Oilers but after just two seasons he left the Oilers and joined the Buffalo Sabres as their Director of Hockey Operations and coach.
Muckler might not have as many wins as some of the other coaches that are being left off this list, but during his two seasons behind the bench, the Oilers won a championship and made it all the way to the conference finals. He also spent a lot of time with the team as an assistant coach so it is not like he didn’t contribute to the other championships.
2. Craig MacTavish
Number two on this list has to be Craig MacTavish. MacTavish coached the Oilers from 2001 to 2009. He is responsible for getting the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final in 2005-06. While he does rank second on the Oilers for all-time wins, he only made the playoffs three out of eight seasons behind the bench.
MacTavish would also go on to serve as general manager of the Oilers for a few seasons and a few other roles with the team. He also ranks third all-time in playoff wins with the franchise.
1. Glen Sather
Glen Sather was with the Edmonton Oilers for a long time. He was a part of all five championships, four as the head coach, and ranks first in all categories for the team, playoff wins, and regular-season wins.
No coach in franchise history is going to be able to beat his four championships, record of 464-268-110, and 11 seasons behind the bench. Sather was the leader of the Oilers when they entered the league, and he stayed with the team till about 2000 when their play started to fall off.
Hopefully in the next few seasons, we will be able to talk about another coach who led this team to a championship, the only question is whether or not it will be Dave Tippett.