Ranking the 5 Greatest Coaches in Washington Capitals History

The Washington Capitals were founded in 1974-75 and are currently working on their 16th head coach. 

Through the years, the Capitals have had some bad coaches. 

The team's first coach, Jim Anderson, won only four of 54 games before being fired midway through the team's inaugural season. And Tom McVie coached 204 games from 1976-78 but managed to lose almost as many games (122) as he earned points in the standings (131). 

There have been some good coaches, too. 

Here now is a ranking of the five greatest coaches in Washington Capitals history. Each coach is listed with the length of his tenure, along with his statistics for both the regular season and postseason while in Washington. These stats include each coach's franchise rank for regular-season points percentage (minimum 200 games) and postseason win-loss percentage (minimum 20 games). 

Note: All statistics courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com unless noted otherwise. 

5. Jim Schoenfeld: 1994-1997

Rick Stewart/Getty Images

SEASON	YRS	GP	W	L	T	OL	PTS	%	RANK
REGULAR	4	249	113	102	34	---	260	.522	5th
POST	3	24	10	14	--	---	----	.417	5th

Jim Schoenfeld's greatest accomplishment as coach of the Washington Capitals came in his first season.

The big redhead took over for Terry Murray with only 37 games left in the 1993-94 season, with the team boasting a 20-23-4 record at the time of the coaching change. The Caps finished the season with a 39-35-10 record, good for 88 points and a third-place finish in the division. Schoenfeld then led the Caps to the Eastern Conference semifinals by registering the franchise's lone postseason series victory over the rival Pittsburgh Penguins before losing to the eventual Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers. 

Schoenfeld's Caps would never advance that far again. They lost in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals each of the next two seasons.

The 1996 Eastern Conference quarterfinals in particular was a low point, not only for Schoenfeld but for the Capitals franchise as a whole. After grabbing a 2-0 lead against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins, the Caps lost Game 3 and then lost Game 4 in the fourth overtime. That game still ranks as the fifth-longest overtime game in NHL history, according to NHL.com. 

Schoenfeld and the Capitals lost their collective cool in Game 5, as Washington triggered a line brawl in the waning moments of an embarrassing 4-1 loss to the Pens. Another line brawl erupted on the ensuing faceoff, prompting Schoenfeld to confront the Penguins coaches. Schoenfeld was ejected as a result and further embarrassed the team by taunting the Pittsburgh crowd on the way to the locker room. 

The humiliation was made complete in Game 6 when the Penguins won 3-2. Pittsburgh had won four straight games to take the series after trailing 2-0 to Washington, which had already "blown two-game leads twice in playoff series against Pittsburgh since 1991," according to The New York Times. 

After the 1996-97 season, Schoenfeld was fired when "the Capitals failed to make the National Hockey League playoffs this season for the first time since 1982," according to The Los Angeles Times. 

Schoenfeld's tenure was marked by too many ignominious distinctions for him to be higher on this list. 

4. Terry Murray: 1990-1994

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

SEASON	YRS	GP	W	L	T	OL	PTS	%	RANK
REGULAR	5	325	163	134	28	---	354	.545	3rd
POST	4	39	18	21	--	---	----	.462	3rd

Like Jim Schoenfeld immediately after him, Terry Murray's greatest accomplishment as the Capitals' head coach came in his first season, and it also occurred after taking over for a fired coach. In Murray's case, his hiring came with 34 games remaining in the regular season, and the coach he replaced was his own brother Bryan Murray. 

The Capitals were six games under .500 when Terry took over, and they finished the season two games under .500 with 78 points and a third-place finish in the division. All Terry did after that was lead the Capitals to the first conference finals appearance in franchise history, a feat that has been accomplished only one time since then. 

Murray's Capitals made the playoffs in each of his three full seasons behind the bench. However, they never compiled 100 points in the regular season and never again reached the conference finals, twice bowing out in the division semifinals. 

A tenure that began with such promise ended halfway through the 1993-94 season, amid disappointment and unrealized expectations. 

3. Ron Wilson: 1997-2002

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

SEASON	YRS	GP	W	L	T	OL	PTS	%	RANK
REGULAR	5	410	192	159	51	8	443	.540	4th
POST	3	32	15	17	--	--	----	.469	2nd

Ron Wilson will forever hold a special place in the annals of Capitals history. He is the first and so far only head coach to lead the Capitals to the Stanley Cup Final, accomplishing the feat in the 1997-98 season. 

But Wilson's tenure after that magical year was nothing special at all. 

Wilson led the Caps to the Stanley Cup Final after a third-place finish in his first season in Washington, but he failed to qualify for the playoffs in two of his final four seasons in D.C. Plus, the two seasons he did qualify for the postseason after 1997-98 both ended in first-round exits. 

Furthermore, Wilson ranks second in franchise history in regular-season games but fourth in postseason games. It would have been nice for the Capitals coach with the second-best postseason winning percentage to have appeared in more postseason games. Wilson's failure to do so prevented him from appearing higher in these rankings. 

2. Bryan Murray: 1981-1990

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

SEASON	YRS	GP	W	L	T	OL	PTS	%	RANK
REGULAR	9	672	343	246	83	---	769	.572	2nd
POST	7	53	24	29	---	---	----	.453	4th

Bryan Murray put the Capitals on the map. 

The elder Murray brother took the reins midway through the 1981-82 season, the eighth year of the franchise's existence. He then proceeded to lead the Capitals to a series of firsts that forced the rest of the league to take the franchise seriously after it had been a laughingstock since the day it was founded. 

Murray guided Washington to its first-ever 100-point season in 1983-84, earning the Jack Adams Award for his efforts. Murray reached the 100-point plateau in each of the next two seasons, as well. In 1988-89, Murray led the Capitals to their first-ever division title. 

Murray also broke ground in the playoffs. He presided over the first postseason berth (1983), first postseason series victory (1984) and first postseason Game 7 victory (1988) in franchise history. He was also behind the bench for two of the most important games in Capitals history:

• 1987 Patrick Division Semifinals, Game 7: The Easter Epic. This game still ranks as the longest overtime Game 7 in NHL history, according to The Hockey News. The Capitals led the series 3-1 before falling to the New York Islanders. 
• 1988 Patrick Division Semifinals, Game 7: Just one year later, Murray and the Capitals exorcised their demons with the biggest goal in Capitals history. This time, the Caps trailed 3-1 in the series before knocking off the Philadelphia Flyers. 

Murray still has the longest tenure of any coach in Capitals history, by a wide margin. In fact, no other man has coached over 500 games for the Capitals, let alone 600. He also leads the Capitals in postseason games coached. 

1. Bruce Boudreau: 2007-2012

Marianne Helm/Getty Images

SEASON	YRS	G	W	L	T	OL	PTS	%	RANK
REGULAR	5	329	201	88	--	40	442	.672	1st
POST	5	51	24	27	--	---	----	.471	1st

Bruce Boudreau did a lot in a relatively short amount of time in D.C. 

Gabby took over 21 games into the 2007-08 season, with Washington sporting a 6-14-1 record. The Caps compiled a league-best 37-17-7 mark from that point on and won the Southeast Division on the last day of the regular season to secure a spot in the playoffs. Boudreau won the Jack Adams Award in the process. 

All this from a man who had never before coached in the NHL. 

Boudreau then proceeded to earn at least 100 points in the standings as well as the Southeast Division title in each of the next three seasons, his only full seasons in Washington.

The second of these three 100-point seasons was especially significant. In 2009-10, Boudreau led the Capitals to a 54-15-13 record, good for 121 points and the franchise's first and only Presidents' Trophy. The Caps became the first non-Original Six team to reach the 120-point plateau. 

Two seasons later, on Nov. 21, 2011, Boudreau became the fastest NHL coach to reach 200 wins, according to The Washington Post. The record was broken less than two years later by Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma, according to the team's website. 

Boudreau's regular season accomplishments are impressive, but his postseason failings are difficult to ignore. Yes, he has the best postseason winning percentage of any coach on this list. But he never advanced past the conference semifinals and was twice bounced from the playoffs in the conference quarterfinals, including the year his team won the Presidents' Trophy and therefore earned the No. 1 overall seed throughout the playoffs. He also compiled a 1-3 record in Game 7s. 

In closing, Boudreau is the greatest coach in Capitals history, but by no means was he a great coach while in Washington. Instead, Boudreau should be remembered as the greatest in a collection of merely good coaches. The truth is, with 24 playoff appearances, two conference finals and zero Stanley Cups to show for 38 years of existence, the Washington Capitals have yet to hire even one great coach.