Scotty Bowman 91 years young tomorrow 9/18

[Stoner]

He's in the Sabres video on Lindy and he looks great.

Go Scotty.

Marv too.

[FrenchConnection44]

Wow. He was SO great. What a coach. Not just for the Sabres. Those years with the vaunted Habs teams as well. 
 

Happy Birthday indeed. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

7 minutes ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

Wow. He was SO great. What a coach. Not just for the Sabres. Those years with the vaunted Habs teams as well. 
 

Happy Birthday indeed. 

His downfall in Buffalo was not coaching - it was his GMing.  He was one of the greatest coaches ever, but a terrible GM.  I don't think Scotty was 'GM' anywhere else.  Coach or Senior Advisor.

[Taro T]

11 minutes ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

His downfall in Buffalo was not coaching - it was his GMing.  He was one of the greatest coaches ever, but a terrible GM.  I don't think Scotty was 'GM' anywhere else.  Coach or Senior Advisor.

Yep.  His issue in Buffalo was his GMing, not his coaching.

But 1 clarification, he was GM in St. Louis briefly.

[matter2003]

Damn...what is up with key Buffalo sports figures living forever?

Levy 99 and still kicking...

Ralph Wilson, Bills owner lived til 95

Bowman 91...

Lou Saban. multiple AFL Championship winning coach in the 60s with the Bills lived til 87...

I guess McDermott is in a great place...want to live til you are 90?  Come to Buffalo and do something great for one of the teams. 😂

 

Edited September 17 by matter2003

[Stoner]

Frank's is vascularly protective. Either the peppers or the vinegar.

Docs, tell me I'm wrong. But give me five to see if the Nitro works and I'm not dangerously hypotensive.

[Doohicksie]

4 hours ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

Wow. He was SO great. What a coach. Not just for the Sabres. Those years with the vaunted Habs teams as well. 
 

Happy Birthday indeed. 

He also brought the Red Wings their first Cup in 42 years, then repeated with them the following year, and won a 3rd Cup with the Wings a few years after that.

[Billznut]

20 hours ago, Doohickie said:

He also brought the Red Wings their first Cup in 42 years, then repeated with them the following year, and won a 3rd Cup with the Wings a few years after that.

He also won the cup with Pittsburgh. In fact he took every team he was with(Blues, Habs, Pens, Red Wings, Black Hawks to the Stanley Cup Finals multiple times, except one, you guessed it, our beloved Sabres. 

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

On 9/17/2024 at 9:57 AM, Sabres Fan in NS said:

His downfall in Buffalo was not coaching - it was his GMing.  He was one of the greatest coaches ever, but a terrible GM.  I don't think Scotty was 'GM' anywhere else.  Coach or Senior Advisor.

On 9/17/2024 at 10:09 AM, Taro T said:

Yep.  His issue in Buffalo was his GMing, not his coaching.

Jean Beliveau's book "My Life in Hockey" has some stories from the 1970s, when he was an assistant to GM Sam Pollock and Bowman was the coach. He said that Bowman would regularly go to Pollock's office after practices and demand that various players needed to be immediately traded simply because they had a bad practice that day. He said that Pollock had to spend 20 minutes calming down Bowman, as Pollock was looking out for the long-term future of the team. Beliveau said that this was the main reason that Bowman was passed over for the GM job and ended up going to Buffalo.

[Weave]

Anecdote time.

When my wife and I were first married, she worked for a family owned company.  The owners had connections with many people in the NHL.  My wife used to see many hockey “celebrities” come into the company offices to meet with the owners.  Scotty Bowman was a frequent visitor.  She said he was by far the most arrogant, unfriendly visitor to the office and treated the people in the office as beneath him.  She did not like the way he interacted with her and others in the office at all.

Her stories of interactions with him have colored my opinions of him as a human being considerably.

Edited September 19 by Weave