Many people do not agree with their bosses in life, and many do not see eye-to-eye in the workplace. Sports is no exception, as many players have hated the coaches that they played for. With that being said, we present to you a list of NHL coaches who were hated by their players for one reason or another.
Which NHL Coaches were secretly loathed by their players?
Mike Babcock
Mike Babcock enjoyed considerable success in his NHL coaching career, the highlight of which was leading the Detroit Red Wings to a Stanley Cup title in 2008. However, all of his success came with considerable controversy.
In the final game of the 2011 regular season, with superstar Mike Modano sitting on 1,499 career games played, Babcock decided to bench Modano. This obviously did not sit well with Modano and his teammates as he would retire at the end of the season just one game shy of the milestone.
More recently, Babcock signed to be head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets but resigned before even coaching one game when players complained about him asking to go through their cell phones. Yeesh!
Mike Keenan
“Iron” Mike Keenan is notoriously regarded as one of the most difficult and hated coaches to play for in the history of the NHL. Most of Keenan’s tenures with organizations did not last more than a few years as he regularly butted heads with not only players but also members of the front office.
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Keenan routinely got hired by different organizations because, despite his hard-nosed approach, he achieved positive results on the ice.
“Iron” Mike led the New York Rangers to a Stanley Cup title in 1994, ending the organization’s 54-year Championship drought.
John Tortorella
John Tortorella is the only active coach on the list; he is currently the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. Like many of the NHL coaches on the list, Torts has a fiery personality that often leads to him butting heads with his players and, occasionally, members of the media.
Despite his controversial coaching style, Tortorella has achieved considerable success in the NHL. He won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004 and twice received the Jack Adams trophy, awarded to the league’s top coach.
Tortorella appears to be the last of a dying breed, as most younger players these days would refuse to give their best to a coach with Tortorella’s coaching tactics.
Mario Tremblay
Mario Tremblay played twelve seasons with the Montreal Canadiens and ten years after his playing career was over, he was named head coach of the team.
Tremblay and superstar goaltender Patrick Roy had beef that dated all the way back to when they were teammates. They nearly got into several physical altercations. On December 2nd, 1995, in a game against the Red Wings, Tremblay did not pull Roy from a game in which he had let in 9 goals.
Roy immediately requested a trade and never played for the Canadiens again. As Roy was arguably the best goalie in the league at the time, this definitely upset the rest of the team, and as the hate ensued, Tremblay would last only one more season as an NHL head coach.
Ken Hitchcock
Ken Hitchcock is perhaps the most surprising inclusion on this list. The head coach often sacrificed what his players felt about him to win games, which is a true calling card for most great coaches.
When he was named coach of the Dallas Stars in 1996, he demanded that captain and superstar Mike Modano adjust his game to a more complete one rather than just focusing on offense. At the time, Modano appeared to be upset with his new coach’s demands, but he soon realized that in order to achieve the ultimate goal, he needed to focus on defense as well.
The strategy ended up paying off in 1999 when Modano and Hitchcock led the Dallas Stars to their first and only Stanley Cup to date.
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George “Punch” Imlach
Punch Imlach was hired by the Maple Leafs as an assistant general manager in 1958 and after just one week on the job, he fired the head coach and replaced him with himself.
Imlach was the definition of an old-school coach who frequently abused his players verbally and physically on several separate occasions. Some of the older players respected his approach, but the majority of the younger players who played for Imlach hated his style.
You cannot argue with the success that “Punch” had during his coaching career. He led the Maple Leafs to four Stanley Cup titles, including three consecutive from 1962 to 1964.
Scotty Bowman
Scotty Bowman is often regarded as one of the greatest coaches in NHL history and was also hated to point by some. He holds numerous records, including the most regular-season, playoff, and Stanley Cup wins.
Bowman had a tough coaching style, that sometimes rubbed his players the wrong way, but there is no arguing with his success. Bowman is comparable to the great NFL football coach Bill Belichick for their incredible achievements over a long period of time.
A former player of Bowman’s, Steve Shutt, had a great quote that sums up what it was like playing for him: “We all hated Scotty 364 days a year. On the 365th day, we collected our Stanley Cup Rings.”
Also read: All 32 NHL Teams’ Mount Rushmore: Which 4 Players Made It For Your Team?
Ron Wilson
Ron Wilson is probably the most polarizing coach on the list. Some of the players he coached viewed his coaching style and tactics as out of touch. Wilson was the head coach for the Anaheim Ducks, Washington Capitals, San Jose Sharks, and Toronto Maple Leafs, and it has been widely reported that his players regularly tuned him out for not agreeing with his strategies and tactics.
Wilson never had a tenure that lasted more than five years with any of the organizations mentioned above and he never achieved enough success to warrant a team keeping him around for more than a few seasons.
Mike Milbury
Mike Milbury had a long NHL playing career with the Boston Bruins and he was known as a tough player to play against with a notoriously hot temper. He carried that reputation into his coaching career when he was hired by his former team in 1989.
Despite early success in Boston, he only lasted two seasons there before going on to coach the Islanders for four seasons. Milbury’s coaching career was short-lived as his aggressive and hostile attitude towards his players seems to have led to other organizations taking notice and not offering him any other positions after he left the Islanders.
Dale Hunter
Dale Hunter was one of the most hated players during his playing career in the NHL and that continued during his short-lived coaching career. Hunter only lasted one season as the Washington Capitals head coach in 2011-12.
Although Hunter experienced some success with the Capitals, leading them to the playoffs and a first-round victory, it was widely reported that superstar Alex Ovechkin and Hunter did not agree with the coach’s ultra-defensive coaching style.
If there is one way to get your players to hate you, it is feuding with your superstar player and face of the franchise.
Also read: 10 NHL Stars Who Were Hated By Their Coaches
