Behind the Bench: Coaches Talk About Life in the NHL

Raymond B. Blake is an assistant professor of history at Mount Allison
University in New Brunswick.

After he became head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, Jacques Demers
joined his boss, Serge Savard, on a Montreal radio show. Delighted with
his new job after coaching in Quebec, St. Louis, and Detroit, Demers
explained that with his three-year contract, he would be the coach for
the next three seasons. Savard quickly reminded him that the contract
simply meant that the Canadiens had to pay him for three years. As
Demers had learned elsewhere, coaches in the NHL have little job
security. If this book can claim a thesis, it is the short tenure of
most NHL coaches.

There are some amusing anecdotes here, but little else. Despite
Irvin’s many years in hockey, he offers surprisingly little insight
into his subject. There are tidbits of analysis sprinkled throughout the
interviews on which the book is based, but Irvin fails to comment on
them. Mike Milbury, for instance, claims that players want
“explanations for all kinds of things and ... it’s tough for a coach
to come up with an explanation.” Is such thinking typical among
coaches? Mike Keenan notes that the growing number of millionaires in
the League has changed the game for coaches. Glen Sather tells Irvin
about the demise of the team concept as players have increasingly become
more selfish. Bob Murdoch and Brian Sutter discuss briefly how poorly
they were treated by management. After piquing our interest, Irvin does
not develop any of those ideas. On several occasions, in fact, he
suggests that a hot goaltender is more important than a coach. If this
is the case, do we really need a book on the people behind the benches?

Yes, we do, and Irvin’s collective biography of NHL coaches could
have been an excellent book. It should have revealed how coaching is an
integral part of the game and how it has evolved over the years. The
author might have considered what impact the Europeans have had on
coaches, how the high salaries have affected coaching, and how coaches
have changed the game. Does Irvin have a sense of what makes a good
coach or a bad coach? Like so many books about hockey, this one lacks
analysis and insight. Strange, indeed, coming from a respected hockey
analyst!