Power Ranking the 10 Greatest Coaches in Montreal Canadiens History

The Montreal Canadiens are the most storied franchise in the NHL, having won 24 Stanley Cups in their history. They've had legendary coaches and players leading their teams to glory on numerous occasions.

It may not seem that they are continuing that tradition today due to their recent struggles. Interim head coach Randy Cunneyworth has been blasted by the Montreal media several times because he can't speak French and the team is in a downward spiral.

That being said, the team has had decades of domination earlier in their history and there is no doubt that the history of the NHL can't be told without the Canadiens and some of their successful coaches.

Here are the 10-greatest of the 27 head coaches the Montreal Canadiens have employed. 

10. Leo Dandurand

Leo Dandurand was an instrumental figure in the early days of the NHL. 

He purchased the Montreal Canadiens in 1921 for just $11,000 and started coaching them until 1926. The Habs won their first ever Stanley Cup under Dandurand in 1924 and won twice more under his ownership. 

Dandurand sold the team in 1935 for $165,000. Talk about making a profit.

9. Claude Ruel

Claude Ruel won the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1969.

Although he had a .631 winning percentage for the Habs, he's not higher on this list because the NHL was watered down in that era following the six-team expansion of 1967. 

This means the star-studded Canadiens would play against expansion teams like the Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins quite often. There were only 12 teams in the NHL and half of them were expansion teams. There wasn't much parity and the Habs took advantage of it. 

That's a lot of easy wins for the Habs and it helped pad his winning percentage.

That being said, winning the Cup took many trials and tribulations for the Canadiens and Ruel deserves to be on this list. 

8. Al MacNeil

Like his predecessor, Al MacNeil coached in an era where there was plenty of mediocrity in the NHL. The Original Six teams were pretty powerful at the time compared to the expansion teams.

For this reason it facilitated the process of winning plenty of games for a powerhouse team like the Canadiens.

MacNeil had a higher winning percentage than Claude Ruel at .645. He also won a Stanley Cup in 1971 to cement his legacy. 

7. Pat Burns

The late Pat Burns coached the Habs for five seasons but he never won a Stanley Cup with them. He did win the Jack Adams award in 1989 and had a .609 winning percentage. 

He also coached in the Wayne Gretzky era which made it a lot more difficult to win Stanley Cups. The NHL had more parity in the 80s compared to the late 60s. Players like Mario Lemieux made teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had historically struggled, more competitive. 

For that reason, it's okay to give Burns a mulligan for not winning a Stanley Cup. It wasn't as easy to establish dynasties in those days. 

In fact, the NHL hasn't seen one since Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers. 

That said, Burns won a plethora of games and won them often in a league that was becoming more difficult to win in. 

6. Cecil Hart

Cecil Hart's name sounds familiar because the Hart Memorial Trophy is named after him. 

He coached the Canadiens after Leo Dandurand's tenure and he won two Stanley Cups. After quarreling with the organization, Hart left as coach.

When Dandurand sold the team in the mid-30s and the team tanked, Hart was called on to take over as coach again.

He was able to lead a struggling Canadiens team to first place. This showed that Hart's coaching had a lot to do with the team winning their Stanley Cups. It wasn't because of talent on the ice alone.

5. Jean Perron

Before Dan Bylsma won the Stanley Cup in his rookie season for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Jean Perron was the last rookie head coach to do so in 1986. 

Like Burns, he succeeded in the NHL during the mid-1980s, which was an era of parity and balance in the NHL.

Perron did not have much success afterwards and he only coached the Habs for just three seasons. That being said, bringing the Cup back to Montreal after a brief decade-long hiatus should be lauded. 

4. Jacques Demers

Jacques Demers was the last Canadiens head coach to win a Stanley Cup. He won it in 1993 against Wayne Gretzky's Los Angeles Kings.

What's most impressive about Demers' achievement was that he did it in an era that belonged to Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins were coming off two-straight Stanley Cup victories and we all know how Gretzky dominated the 1980s. 

One thing is for sure. Winning the Stanley Cup in 1993 with over 20 teams in the league and a plethora of stars all over the continent is a lot more challenging than winning it in the 1930s when there were just a handful of teams in the league and travel was less difficult. 

Also, doing it against the greatest player of all time just puts the icing on the cake. 

3. Dick Irvin

Dick Irvin won three Stanley Cups throughout his 15-year tenure as Montreal's head coach. He won 431 games during that period and was the legendary predecessor to another great coach, Toe Blake, who started a decade of excellence for the Habs.

Irvin took over the team after it had collapsed when Leo Danturand had sold it. They had a bit of a Stanley Cup drought and Irvin made sure the glory days in Montreal returned quickly. 

Irvin coached hall-of-famers like Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, Emile Bouchard, Doug Harvey, Dickie Moore and Bernard Geoffrion. 

With all of that talent, Irvin was able to bring the Canadiens back to relevance. 

2. Toe Blake

Toe Blake might just be the Phil Jackson or Red Auerbach of hockey. In just 13 years, he won eight Stanley Cups for the Montreal Canadiens. This ratio of championships to years coached is the best in NHL history. 

His tenure as head coach was filled with dominance and superiority over the rest of the NHL.

Blake won 500 games for the Canadiens, which is the most in franchise history. 

What's most impressive about Blake was that he was able to keep his players motivated every year. These days in sports it's rare to see a team win back to back. This is because players just lose motivation after winning and they get a championship hangover.

He also replaced a legend in Dick Irvin and was able to cement his own path to success. Sometimes it's hard in sports to replace a legend, but it was the least of problems for Blake.

Blake was a no-nonsense guy and was able to instill a winning mentality for his group throughout his tenure. 

1. Scotty Bowman

How does Scotty Bowman take the No. 1 spot if he won three fewer Stanley Cups than Toe Blake?

First off, winning five Stanley Cups is not a joke and it's an unbelievable achievement which should not be taken lightly.

Secondly, he did it in the 1970s when there were actually more than a dozen teams in the NHL. In the 1950s during Blake's dominance, there were only six teams. 

This makes Bowman's accomplishment even more noteworthy. When the NHL expanded, travel became more difficult and more teams were vying for the Stanley Cup. 

Like Blake, the way Bowman kept his players motivated was also something to marvel upon. When teams win Stanley Cups, they just lose that hunger and passion the following year. 

Not with Scotty. 

Bowman's ridiculous .744 winning percentage along with his 419 victories and .714 playoff winning percentage make him the greatest Montreal coach of all time. 

Folks, that's not a typo. That's a .714 playoff winning percentage against the best of the NHL in the playoffs. This is after expansion when there were more teams in the league to defeat and increased travel.

Bowman would continue his dominance in the future winning Cups with the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins.