Bob Pulford

Robert Jesse Pulford (born March 31, 1936) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey forward who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings in the National Hockey League. He later served as head coach of the Kings before spending 30 years with the Chicago Blackhawks as a coach and general manager.

Bob Pulford
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1991
Born (1936-03-31) March 31, 1936
Newton Robinson, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 188 lb (85 kg; 13 st 6 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shot Left
Played for Toronto Maple Leafs
Los Angeles Kings
Playing career 19561972

Early life

Pulford and his family lived on King St. in Weston, Ontario from 1940 to 1950, and he attended Memorial School prior to the family move to rural Ontario.

Pulford played junior hockey in Weston, then senior hockey for the Marlboros.

Playing career

Pulford played junior hockey for the Toronto Marlboros for three seasons from 1953 to 1956, winning two Memorial Cups 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 number 20. Pulford was an important member of the Leaf teams that won four Stanley Cups in 19621964 and 1967.

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.

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.

In 1967 Pulford was elected the first president of the National Hockey League Players' Association.

Coaching career

Immediately after retiring as a player, 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 2013. 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-1970s, 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, demoting Lorne Molleken to an assistant. However, Molleken remained the team's main operator on the bench, with Pulford as more or less a senior consultant.

In seven seasons and 426 games as Hawks coach over three stints, Pulford won 182, lost 176, and tied 68. At the time he left the bench for good, only Billy Reay had won more regular season games for the Hawks. Pulford is now third, behind Reay and Joel Quenneville for most regular season games won as Hawk coach.

He won the Jack Adams Award for best coach in the NHL in 1975. Pulford was also honoured to be named head coach of Team USA during the 1976 Canada Cup tournament.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991.

On October 11, 2007, Pulford was named an officer with the Wirtz Corporation, parent company of the Blackhawks, 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, GM of the San Jose Sharks, and president and general manager of the Los Angeles Kings. He is currently a senior advisor in the Philadelphia Flyers organization.

In 2012, Pulford was honoured by the Kings in a pregame ceremony; the team wore their purple and gold 1970s throwback uniforms in the game following this ceremony.

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1953–54Weston DukesMetJHL
1953–54Toronto MarlborosOHA-Jr.1759141215471112
1954–55Toronto MarlborosOHA-Jr.4724224643137101729
1954–55Toronto MarlborosM-Cup1154915
1955–56Toronto MarlborosOHA-Jr.483025558711168242
1955–56Toronto MarlborosM-Cup131382116
1956–57Toronto Maple LeafsNHL6511112232
1957–58Toronto Maple LeafsNHL7014173148
1958–59Toronto Maple LeafsNHL7023143753124488
1959–60Toronto Maple LeafsNHL70242852811041510
1960–61Toronto Maple LeafsNHL401118294150008
1961–62*Toronto Maple LeafsNHL70182139981271824
1962–63*Toronto Maple LeafsNHL70192544491025714
1963–64*Toronto Maple LeafsNHL70183048731453820
1964–65Toronto Maple LeafsNHL6519293946611216
1965–66Toronto Maple LeafsNHL7028285651411212
1966–67*Toronto Maple LeafsNHL6717284528121101112
1967–68Toronto Maple LeafsNHL7420305040
1968–69Toronto Maple LeafsNHL711123342040002
1969–70Toronto Maple LeafsNHL7418193731
1970–71Los Angeles KingsNHL5917264353
1971–72Los Angeles KingsNHL7313243748
NHL totals 1079 281 362 643 792 89 25 26 51 126

* Stanley Cup Champion.

Coaching record

TeamYearRegular seasonPost season
GWLTPtsDivision rankResult
LA1972–73 78313611736th in WestMissed playoffs
LA1973–74 78333312783rd in WestLost in quarter-finals (1-4 vs. CHI)
LA1974–75 804217211052nd in NorrisLost in preliminary round (1-2 vs. TOR)
LA1975–76 8038339852nd in NorrisWon in preliminary round (2-0 vs. ATL)
Lost in quarter-finals (3-4 vs. BOS)
LA1976–77 80343115832nd in NorrisWon in preliminary round (2-1 vs. ATL)
Lost in quarter-finals (2-4 vs. BOS)
CHI1977–78 80322919831st in SmytheLost in quarter-finals (0-4 vs. BOS)
CHI1978–79 80293615731st in SmytheLost in quarter-finals (0-4 vs. NYI)
CHI1981–82 2812142(72)4th in NorrisWon in division semi-finals (3-1 vs. MIN)
Won in division finals (4-2 vs. STL)
Lost in conference finals (1-4 vs. VAN)
CHI1984–85 271674(83)2nd in NorrisWon in division semi-finals (3-0 vs. DET)
Won in division finals (4-2 vs. MIN)
Lost in conference finals (2-4 vs. EDM)
CHI1985–86 8039338861st in NorrisLost in division semi-finals (0-3 vs. TOR)
CHI1986–87 80293714723rd in NorrisLost in division semi-finals (0-4 vs. DET)
CHI1999–2000 5828246623rd in CentralMissed playoffs
Total8293633301368623 Division Titles27-43 (.386)

See also

  • List of NHL players with 1000 games played
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Ted Lindsay (1958)
NHLPA President
1967–72
Succeeded by
Ken Dryden
Preceded by
Larry Cahan
Los Angeles Kings captain
197173
Succeeded by
Terry Harper
Preceded by
Fred Glover
Head coach of the Los Angeles Kings
197277
Succeeded by
Ron Stewart
Preceded by
Bill White
Head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks
197779
Succeeded by
Eddie Johnston
Preceded by
Keith Magnuson
Head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks
1981–82
Succeeded by
Orval Tessier
Preceded by
Orval Tessier
Head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks/Blackhawks
198487
Succeeded by
Bob Murdoch
Preceded by
Lorne Molleken
Head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks
1999–2000
Succeeded by
Alpo Suhonen
Preceded by
Tommy Ivan
Mike Keenan
Bob Murray
Mike Smith
General Manager of the Chicago Black Hawks/Blackhawks
1977–90
1992–97
1999–2000
2003–05
Succeeded by
Mike Keenan
Bob Murray
Mike Smith
Dale Tallon
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