Bob Pulford
Encyclopedia
Robert Jesse Pulford is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey
forward
who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs
and Los Angeles Kings
in the National Hockey League
. He has been a coach and executive for the Chicago Blackhawks
for the past thirty years.
for three seasons from 1953 to 1956, winning two Memorial Cup
s under coach Turk Broda
. He moved up to the Maple Leafs for the 1956–57 season and remained with the team for 14 seasons wearing jersey #20. Pulford was an important member of the Leaf teams that won four Stanley Cup
s in 1962-63-64-67. The Leafs traded him to the Los Angeles Kings on September 3, 1970, where he played two seasons and retired as a player in 1972.
Pulford became head coach of the Kings for the 1972–73 season and led the team for five years before becoming coach and general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1977. As coach of the Kings, he helped Los Angeles go from being one of the worst defensive and penalty killing teams in the NHL to one of the best. He guided the Kings to their first playoff appearance in five years in 1974, and won the Jack Adams Award
as coach of the year in the NHL in 1975. That season, the Kings amassed 105 points, still a club record through 2010. He also led the Kings to their first playoff series wins since 1969 when they defeated the Atlanta Flames in the first round of both the 1976 and 1977 NHL playoffs. Pulford left the Kings after the 1976–77 season after constant feuding with then owner Jack Kent Cooke
. Pulford wanted to become General Manager as well as coach, or at least have a bigger role in player personnel decisions. Cooke however, often meddled in player personnel matters, and in the mid-70's, reverted to his old habits of trading promising young players and draft picks for veteran, past their prime former stars.
He served as coach for the Blackhawks on three separate occasions from 1977 to 1987. He was promoted to senior vice president in 1990, but took on the general manager's duties again from 1992 to 1997, from 1999 to 2000, and from 2003 to 2005. During his third stint as general manager, Pulford nominally doubled as head coach. However, Lorne Molleken
remained the team's main operator on the bench, with Pulford as more or less a senior consultant.
In 7 seasons: 426 games as Hawks coach, Bob Pulford won 182, lost 176, and tied 68. His win percentage was .507 and he is ranked second behind Billy Reay
in most regular season games won as Hawk coach.
With the series tied 1–1, Pulford scored the overtime game winner in game 3 of the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals
against the Montreal Canadiens
. The Montreal goalie was Rogie Vachon. Pulford later coached Vachon in Los Angeles as the Kings rose to prominence in the mid-1970s.
He won the Jack Adams Award
for best coach in the NHL in 1975.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
in 1991.
On October 11, 2007; Pulford was named an officer with the Wirtz Corporation and is no longer part of the day to day management of the Blackhawks.
His son-in-law is Dean Lombardi, a former assistant general manager for the Minnesota North Stars, former GM of the San Jose Sharks, and current president and general manager of the Los Angeles Kings since April 2006.
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
forward
Forward (ice hockey)
In ice hockey, a forward is a player position on the ice whose primary responsibility is to score goals. Generally, the forwards try to stay in three different lanes, also known as thirds, of the ice going from goal to goal. It is not mandatory however, to stay in a lane. Staying in a lane aids in...
who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
and Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
in the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
. He has been a coach and executive for the Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
for the past thirty years.
Playing career
Pulford played junior hockey for the Toronto MarlborosToronto Marlboros
The Toronto Marlborough Athletic Club, commonly known as the Toronto Marlboros, was founded in 1903. It operated a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association and Ontario Hockey League from 1904 to 1989...
for three seasons from 1953 to 1956, winning two Memorial Cup
Memorial Cup
The Memorial Cup is a junior ice hockey club championship trophy awarded annually to the Canadian Hockey League champion. It is awarded following a four-team, round robin tournament between a host team and the champions of the CHL's three member leagues: the Ontario Hockey League , Quebec Major...
s under coach Turk Broda
Turk Broda
Walter "Turk" Broda was an ice hockey goaltender, playing his entire career for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League . Broda was born in Brandon, Manitoba to a Ukrainian family; joining the Maple Leafs in 1936.-Personal:...
. He moved up to the Maple Leafs for the 1956–57 season and remained with the team for 14 seasons wearing jersey #20. Pulford was an important member of the Leaf teams that won four Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
s in 1962-63-64-67. The Leafs traded him to the Los Angeles Kings on September 3, 1970, where he played two seasons and retired as a player in 1972.
Pulford became head coach of the Kings for the 1972–73 season and led the team for five years before becoming coach and general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1977. As coach of the Kings, he helped Los Angeles go from being one of the worst defensive and penalty killing teams in the NHL to one of the best. He guided the Kings to their first playoff appearance in five years in 1974, and won the Jack Adams Award
Jack Adams Award
The Jack Adams Award is awarded annually to the National Hockey League coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success." It has been awarded 37 times to 32 different coaches. The winner is selected by a poll of the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association at the end of the...
as coach of the year in the NHL in 1975. That season, the Kings amassed 105 points, still a club record through 2010. He also led the Kings to their first playoff series wins since 1969 when they defeated the Atlanta Flames in the first round of both the 1976 and 1977 NHL playoffs. Pulford left the Kings after the 1976–77 season after constant feuding with then owner Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke was a Canadian entrepreneur and former owner of the Washington Redskins , the Los Angeles Lakers , and the Los Angeles Kings , and built The Forum in Inglewood, California and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.-Early career:Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Cooke moved with his family to...
. Pulford wanted to become General Manager as well as coach, or at least have a bigger role in player personnel decisions. Cooke however, often meddled in player personnel matters, and in the mid-70's, reverted to his old habits of trading promising young players and draft picks for veteran, past their prime former stars.
He served as coach for the Blackhawks on three separate occasions from 1977 to 1987. He was promoted to senior vice president in 1990, but took on the general manager's duties again from 1992 to 1997, from 1999 to 2000, and from 2003 to 2005. During his third stint as general manager, Pulford nominally doubled as head coach. However, Lorne Molleken
Lorne Molleken
Lorne Molleken is a former Canadian ice hockey player and coach. Molleken was head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks at the end of the 1999 and the beginning of the 2000 season...
remained the team's main operator on the bench, with Pulford as more or less a senior consultant.
In 7 seasons: 426 games as Hawks coach, Bob Pulford won 182, lost 176, and tied 68. His win percentage was .507 and he is ranked second behind Billy Reay
Billy Reay
William Tulip Reay was a Canadian National Hockey League hockey player and coach.Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he played in the NHL for 10 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings. In 479 games, he scored 105 goals and 267 points and in 63 playoff games, he scored 13 goals and...
in most regular season games won as Hawk coach.
With the series tied 1–1, Pulford scored the overtime game winner in game 3 of the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals
1967 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1967 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series played between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs would win the series four games to two to win their thirteenth Stanley Cup...
against the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
. The Montreal goalie was Rogie Vachon. Pulford later coached Vachon in Los Angeles as the Kings rose to prominence in the mid-1970s.
He won the Jack Adams Award
Jack Adams Award
The Jack Adams Award is awarded annually to the National Hockey League coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success." It has been awarded 37 times to 32 different coaches. The winner is selected by a poll of the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association at the end of the...
for best coach in the NHL in 1975.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...
in 1991.
On October 11, 2007; Pulford was named an officer with the Wirtz Corporation and is no longer part of the day to day management of the Blackhawks.
His son-in-law is Dean Lombardi, a former assistant general manager for the Minnesota North Stars, former GM of the San Jose Sharks, and current president and general manager of the Los Angeles Kings since April 2006.
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season Season (sports) In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an... |
Team | League | GP | G Goal (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to... |
A Assist (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal... |
Pts Point (ice hockey) Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one... |
PIM Penalty (ice hockey) A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,... |
GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1954–55 | Toronto Marlboros Toronto Marlboros The Toronto Marlborough Athletic Club, commonly known as the Toronto Marlboros, was founded in 1903. It operated a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association and Ontario Hockey League from 1904 to 1989... |
OHA Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association is the governing body for the majority of Junior and Senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. Other Ontario sanctioning bodies along with the... |
47 | 24 | 22 | 46 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1955–56 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA | 48 | 30 | 25 | 55 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1956–57 | Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League... |
NHL | 65 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1957–58 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 14 | 17 | 31 | 48 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1958–59 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 23 | 14 | 37 | 53 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 8 | ||
| 1959–60 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 79 | 24 | 28 | 52 | 81 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 | ||
| 1960–61 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 40 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 41 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 1961–62 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 18 | 21 | 39 | 98 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 24 | ||
| 1962–63 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 19 | 25 | 44 | 49 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 14 | ||
| 1963–64 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 18 | 30 | 48 | 73 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 20 | ||
| 1964–65 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 65 | 19 | 29 | 39 | 46 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 16 | ||
| 1965–66 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 28 | 28 | 56 | 51 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | ||
| 1966–67 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 67 | 17 | 28 | 45 | 28 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 12 | ||
| 1967–68 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 74 | 20 | 30 | 50 | 40 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1968–69 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 71 | 11 | 23 | 34 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1969–70 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 74 | 18 | 19 | 37 | 31 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1970–71 | Los Angeles Kings Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League... |
NHL | 59 | 17 | 26 | 43 | 53 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1971–72 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 73 | 13 | 24 | 37 | 48 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 1079 | 281 | 362 | 643 | 792 | 89 | 25 | 26 | 51 | 126 | ||||
Coaching record
| Team | |Regular season | LA Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League... |
1972–73 | 78 | 31 | 36 | 11 | 73 | 6th in West West Division (NHL) The West Division of the National Hockey League existed from 1967 until 1974 when the league realigned into two conferences of two divisions each.... |
Missed playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LA | 1973–74 | 78 | 33 | 33 | 12 | 78 | 3rd in West | Lost in first round | ||
| LA | 1974–75 | 80 | 42 | 17 | 21 | 105 | 2nd in Norris Norris Division The NHL's Norris Division was formed in 1974 as part of the Prince of Wales Conference. The division moved to the Clarence Campbell Conference in 1981, with the Detroit Red Wings being the only member to remain from the previous season. The division existed for 19 seasons until 1993. The... |
Lost in first round | ||
| LA | 1975–76 | 80 | 38 | 33 | 9 | 85 | 2nd in Norris | Lost in second round | ||
| LA | 1976–77 | 80 | 34 | 31 | 15 | 83 | 2nd in Norris | Lost in second round | ||
| CHI Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10... |
1977–78 | 80 | 32 | 29 | 19 | 83 | 1st in Smythe Smythe Division The NHL's Smythe Division was formed in 1974 as part of the Clarence Campbell Conference. The division existed for 19 seasons until 1993. It was named in honor of Conn Smythe. It is the fore-runner of the NHL's Northwest Division and NHL's Pacific Division.... |
Lost in first round | ||
| CHI | 1978–79 | 80 | 29 | 36 | 15 | 73 | 1st in Smythe | Lost in first round | ||
| CHI | 1981–82 | 28 | 12 | 14 | 2 | (72) | 4th in Smythe | Lost in Conf Champ | ||
| CHI | 1984–85 | 27 | 16 | 7 | 4 | (83) | 2nd in Smythe | Lost in Conf Champ | ||
| CHI | 1985–86 | 80 | 39 | 33 | 8 | 86 | 1st in Smythe | Lost in first round | ||
| CHI | 1986–87 | 80 | 29 | 37 | 14 | 72 | 3rd in Smythe | Lost in first round | ||
| CHI | 1999–2000 | 58 | 28 | 24 | 6 | 62 | 3rd in Central Central Division (NHL) The NHL's Central Division was formed in 1993 as part of the Western Conference in a league realignment, the predecessor of which was the Norris Division.The Central Division consists of the Western Conference's easternmost teams.-Current lineup:... |
Missed playoffs | ||
| Total | 829 | 363 | 330 | 136 | ||||||