Oh Captain My Captain: Top 5 Coaches in the NHL

A head coach can be just as valuable as a goaltender, in that they can make a good team great, mediocre, or unbelievably bad.

We are seeing coaches make just as much as players now-a-days and why not, they are the ones that usually get the blame when a team isn't rolling.

With that in mind I decided to pay some respects to one of the toughest gigs in pro sports and name my top 5 coaches.

5. Bruce Boudreau (Washington Capitals)

It may be too early to tell just yet, but Bruce Boudreau may be a modern day Albert Einstein for what he did with Alexander Ovechkin and his group of merry AHL men.  When Boudreau and his cast of call ups took over the Caps were a dreadful 6-14-1 and looking like the doormats of the Eastern Conference.

Not only did Boudreau light a fire under Ovechkin, but the rest of the team followed suit going 37-17-7 the next 61 games, eventually finishing 1st in the Southeast Division. Not bad for a team full of nobody's and cast aways, if he can make Jose Theodore good again next season he may just be the messiah of Capital city.

4. Jacques Lemaire (Minnesota Wild)

The teams he coaches usually play a defensive brand of hockey that makes the average fan wish they had bought tickets to the New Kids on the Block reunion tour instead of a hockey game, but Lemaire continues to make his teams compete even when they have no business being there.

Right from day one the expansion Wild were competitive, and have finished in the top of the Conference the last two years with 104 and 98 points respectably. For someone that never has permanent lines, rotates a captaincy from month to month and plays a variant of the trap Lemaire has sure had no problem adapting to the new rules, he may just be the second coming of Scotty Bowman.

3. Dave Tippett (Dallas Stars)

I don't think the Dallas Stars should have even made the playoffs this season, let alone finished with 45 wins, take out the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks and make the Conference finals, but Tippett got the most from his cast of players like he seems to do every season.

In his 5 years coaching the Stars he has never won less than 41 games, won at least 50 twice and made the playoffs every single year. Not too shabby for a guy who's number one line was centered by Mike Ribeiro. Maybe he will turn Avery into a 50 goal guy next season if he can take a break from his modeling career for at least 70 games or so.

2. Mike Babcock (Detroit Red Wings)

The Red Wings have themselves a beauty in Babcock, although some would argue Ken Holland and his staff are the sharpest in the game right now. It takes more than talent to win though, and that is all this guy has done since taking over the ranks from Scotty Bowman.

The Wings have never won less than 50 games in his stint with the club and finished 1st in the Central each year. His record is unheralded with a combined 162-56-28 regular season record.

He made Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Michel Therrien look like a fool in the finals, which if you heard his rant on obstruction may not be that hard to do. Never the less Babcock has made this very good Wings team great without the services of Steve Yzerman and that is a huge hole to fill.

1. Tom Renney (New York Rangers)

If Tom Renney was coaching a team like the Wings he may just have three Cup rings right now. Glen Sather knows this, which is why the drastic changes in the off season so far for the Rangers.

He is nicknamed "the professor" which should give even the least knowledgeable hockey fan a clue. Not many could conduct a dressing room with the likes of Avery and Jagr, let alone have the two call him their favorite coach.

Since taking over the bench job for the blue shirts Renney has won 44, 42 and 42 games respectably and put them in the playoffs in each of his three years, which is more than any other coach in the clubs recent history. He is due for big things in Broadway, heck Markus Naslund knows it that's why he chose to sign there.

Many will argue that Renney has yet to achieve hockey's greatest prize, but for me he did what probably no other coach could do and that was teach Jaromir Jagr how to back check, Sean Avery how to be a useful NHL player and turn a bunch of ego's into a pretty good hockey club.