Inside the Rules, Contracts, and Business of NHL Head Coaches | May 17, 2026

So, uh, you gotta put it into perspective in that, uh, I grew up in Montreal in the 1970s.

Uh, I experienced six Stanley Cups in the decade.

Um, y- I went to a lot of playoff games, uh, with my dad in the 1970s.

But the one thing that's interesting is that Montreal, in the six Cups they won in the '70s, they won in '71, they won in '73, and then the four in a row from, uh, '75 to '79.

The only time they won the Cup on home ice was '79.

Oh.

Against the New York Rangers.

I didn't know that.

And I was at that game, and that game in the Montreal Forum, 1979, the Cup in the building, it was electric.

It was electric.

I had ...

And I remember thinking in '79, um, y- you ...

It, it, it was the Canadians had, were dominating the series.

It was inevitable that they were gonna win that c- cup, uh, that series against the Rangers.

And it ultimately also felt like, um, it could be, uh, the end of the run.

And ultimately, it was Ken Dryden's last game ever with the Montreal Canadiens because he retired that off-season.

It was Scotty Bowman's last game ever coaching the Montreal Canadiens.

He left that off-season to go become the coach general manager of the Buffalo Sabres.

Jacques Lemaire left to become a player coach in Switzerland.

Um, and it just felt like y- eh, we didn't know those things at the time.

Mm-hmm.

But there was a creeping feeling that the engine driving the Canadiens through this, you know, this dominating team, maybe the best team in the history of the NHL, was y- y- you know, being led by Lafleur and Dryden and, and the incredible players they had, the big three, Savard, Guy Lapointe, Larry Robinson, that this was coming to an end.

Mm.

But that emotion of seeing, I remember after the game was over, when the Cup actually came out into the, the realm of the Montreal ice surface at the Forum, the, the electricity in the crowd, seeing the gleaming Cup under the lights coming out onto the ice, uh, was just incredible.

And they, uh, uh, named, uh, Bob Gainey the Conn Smythe Trophy winner, and the Canadian players immediately lift him, lifted him up and put Gainey on their shoulders and, and had Gainey up on their shoulders going around the ice with him as the, uh, unsung hero of the team.