Pat Quinn

Lore & Background

Prior to coaching, Quinn was an NHL defenceman, having played nine seasons in the league with the Maple Leafs, Canucks and Atlanta Flames. Coming out of the junior ranks with the Edmonton Oil Kings, he won a Memorial Cup with the club in 1963. He later won another Memorial Cup as part-owner of the Vancouver Giants in 2007. He was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) in the 2012 Canadian honours. In 2016, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and the IIHF Hall of Fame.

Reader's Guide

Quinn began his junior career with the Hamilton Tiger Cubs and Hamilton Kilty B's in the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). After graduating high school, Quinn accepted a scholarship from Michigan Tech, but was declared ineligible to play by the NCAA because he had already signed his rights to the Detroit Red Wings. He instead joined the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Central Alberta Hockey League (CAHL), helping the club to the 1963 Memorial Cup in his only year with Edmonton, playing alongside fellow future NHL player, coach, and manager Glen Sather.

Quinn turned pro in 1963–64 and began stints in several minor leagues, including the Eastern Hockey League (EHL), Central Hockey League (CHL) and Western Hockey League (WHL). While playing with the Tulsa Oilers, Quinn was called up by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1968, making his NHL debut. During his rookie season with the Maple Leafs, he is probably best remembered for an open-ice bodycheck on Bobby Orr in the 1969 playoffs against the Boston Bruins that left Orr unconscious and provoked a bench-clearing brawl.

After two seasons with the Maple Leafs, the Vancouver Canucks claimed Quinn in the 1970 NHL Expansion Draft. He played two seasons in Vancouver, before being again left unprotected in the 1972 NHL Expansion Draft, where he was claimed by the Atlanta Flames and served as team captain. Quinn retired prematurely in 1977 after suffering an ankle injury. Quinn became an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Flyers in 1977 under Fred Shero, and was named head coach of the Flyers' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Maine Mariners, the following season.

Quinn returned to the Flyers late that season, however, as head coach of the NHL club (with prior head coach Bob McCammon going back to Maine), and during the 1979–80 NHL season (his first full season with the Flyers) Quinn led the team to a record breaking 35-game unbeaten streak that culminated in a trip to the 1980 Stanley Cup Final, where they were upset by the New York Islanders in six games. Quinn won the Jack Adams Award for his effort. He stayed with the Flyers two more years, but was replaced late in the 1981-82 season.

Quinn briefly left hockey, but remained in the Philadelphia area to attend law school at Widener University. In 1984, he was named head coach of the Los Angeles Kings and went on to finish his degree at the University of San Diego.