Al MacNeil

Al MacNeil
Born	(1935-09-27) September 27, 1935 Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight	183 lb (83 kg; 13 st 1 lb)
Position	Defense
Shot	Left
Played for	Toronto Maple Leafs Montreal Canadiens Chicago Black Hawks New York Rangers Pittsburgh Penguins
Playing career	1956–1970

Allister Wences MacNeil (born September 27, 1935) is a Canadian former National Hockey League player and coach. He was the first native of Atlantic Canada to serve as a head coach in the NHL.

Career

He played parts of eleven seasons in the National Hockey League as a rugged defenceman with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Upon retiring as a player, MacNeil turned to coaching with the Montreal Voyageurs of the American Hockey League, top farm club of the Canadiens, for the 1969–70 season. After a successful debut, MacNeil became an assistant coach to Claude Ruel of the NHL Canadiens for the 1970–71 season.

Montreal Canadiens

During that season, the Habs struggled for a good portion of the season, at one point in danger of missing the playoffs for a second straight year—something that hadn't happened since they missed the playoffs three years in a row from 1919 to 1922. Ruel resigned 23 games into the season and MacNeil took the helm; meanwhile, the club swung a major trade to net top scoring left wing Frank Mahovlich from the Detroit Red Wings. The Canadiens rallied to qualify for the playoffs as third seed in their division, then MacNeil led the team to an unexpected Stanley Cup championship. The Habs stunned the heavily favoured Boston Bruins in the opening round of the playoffs, and then defeated the Minnesota North Stars and Chicago Black Hawks, winning the latter series after having been behind 3–2.

Crucial to the Stanley Cup victory was MacNeil's decision to use rookie goaltender Ken Dryden in the playoffs despite Dryden having played only six regular-season games in 1970–71. MacNeil was presumably impressed that Dryden won all these games, allowing only nine goals (1.65 GAA). Another crucial choice was having rookie Rejean Houle mark the Black Hawks' goalscorer Bobby Hull. Houle was nicknamed the "shadow of Bobby Hull" as Hull managed to score only one even-strength goal in the series.

Unfortunately, MacNeil had a frosty relationship with most of the team's francophone players, most notably Henri Richard. He was the first Canadiens coach in recent memory who couldn't speak French at all. When MacNeil benched Richard during the final series against the Black Hawks, Richard publicly criticised the coach, calling him incompetent. In game seven held at Chicago, being tied at 2–2 after the first two periods, the Canadiens scored the winning goal early in the third to take the series and the championship, with Richard scoring both the equalizer and game winner. MacNeil and Richard hugged at the end of the game, but that did little to patch up their differences. Winning the Cup, however, was not enough to save MacNeil's job; he was demoted to head coach of the Canadiens' American Hockey League affiliate, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, while the fluently bilingual Scotty Bowman succeeded him as head coach of the Habs. MacNeil won three Calder Cup Championships (1972, 1976, 1977) in six years with the Voyageurs.

On October 10, 2013, it was announced MacNeil had been named to the AHL's 2014 Hall of Fame class, alongside Bob Perreault, John Slaney and Bill Dineen.

He later returned to the Canadiens winning two more Stanley Cups as Director of Player Personnel in 1978 and 1979.

Atlanta/Calgary Flames

On June 7, 1979, MacNeil resigned from his position with the Canadiens to succeed Fred Creighton as the third-ever head coach of the Atlanta Flames. He remained in that capacity through the franchise's move to Calgary and up until his promotion to director of player development and professional scouting on May 31, 1982. MacNeil won his fourth Stanley Cup in 1989 as Calgary's assistant general manager.

On December 10, 2001, MacNeil returned to head coaching duties after almost two decades when the Flames head coach at the time, Greg Gilbert, was suspended for a period of two games for his role in a brawl in a game with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. When Gilbert was fired in the next season due to the Flames' poor performance, MacNeil once again assumed interim head coaching duties before Darryl Sutter was hired.

MacNeil has been involved in professional hockey for more than 50 years as a player, coach, assistant manager and director of hockey operations.

Al MacNeil is married, he has two children, daughter Allison and son Allister, and two grandsons from his daughter.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1954–55	Toronto Marlboros	OHA		47	3	16	19	0		—	—	—	—	—
1955–56	Toronto Marlboros	OHA		48	9	12	21	0		—	—	—	—	—
1955–56	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		1	0	0	0	2		—	—	—	—	—
1956–57	Rochester Americans	AHL		13	0	4	4	35		—	—	—	—	—
1956–57	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		53	4	8	12	84		—	—	—	—	—
1957–58	Rochester Americans	AHL		54	3	18	21	91		—	—	—	—	—
1957–58	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		13	0	0	0	9		—	—	—	—	—
1958–59	Rochester Americans	AHL		69	4	13	17	119		5	1	1	2	17
1959–60	Rochester Americans	AHL		49	4	16	20	44		12	1	2	3	12
1959–60	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		4	0	0	0	2		—	—	—	—	—
1960–61	Hull-Ottawa Canadiens	EPHL		60	6	20	26	101		14	2	4	6	21
1961–62	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		61	1	7	8	74		5	0	0	0	2
1962–63	Chicago Black Hawks	NHL		70	2	19	21	100		4	0	1	1	4
1963–64	Chicago Black Hawks	NHL		70	5	19	24	91		7	0	2	2	25
1964–65	Chicago Black Hawks	NHL		69	3	7	10	119		14	0	1	1	34
1965–66	Chicago Black Hawks	NHL		51	0	1	1	34		3	0	0	0	0
1966–67	New York Rangers	NHL		58	0	4	4	44		4	0	0	0	2
1967–68	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		74	2	10	12	58		—	—	—	—	—
1968–69	Houston Apollos	CHL		70	1	11	12	70		3	0	1	1	0
1969–70	Montreal Voyageurs	AHL		66	0	10	10	14		8	0	1	1	0
NHL Totals				524	17	75	92	617		37	0	4	4	67

Coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season							Post season
		G	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	Finish	Result
MTL	1970–71	55	31	15	9	-	(97)	3rd in East	Won Stanley Cup
ATL	1979–80	80	35	32	13	-	83	4th in Patrick	Lost in First Round
CGY	1980–81	80	39	27	14	-	92	3rd in Patrick	Lost in Conf Finals
CGY	1981–82	80	29	34	17	-	75	4th in Patrick	Lost in First Round
CGY	2002–03	11	4	5	2	0	(75)	5th in Northwest	Missed Playoffs
Total		306	138	113	55	0

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Legends of Hockey

Preceded by Claude Ruel	Head coach of the Montreal Canadiens 1970–71	Succeeded by Scotty Bowman
Preceded by Fred Creighton	Head coach of the Atlanta Flames 1979–80	Succeeded by Himself Calgary Flames head coach
Preceded by Himself Atlanta Flames head coach	Head coach of the Calgary Flames 1980–82	Succeeded by Bob Johnson
Preceded by Greg Gilbert	Head coach of the Calgary Flames 2002–03	Succeeded by Darryl Sutter