Al Arbour

Lore & Background

Arbour began his NHL playing career with the Detroit Red Wings in 1953 and later played for the Chicago Black Hawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and St. Louis Blues. He won the Stanley Cup as a player with Chicago in 1961 and with Toronto in 1962 and 1964. He was the first captain of the expansion St. Louis Blues and played for them in three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals losses. Arbour was one of the few professional athletes to wear eyeglasses while competing and was the last NHL player to do so on the ice.

Arbour's coaching career began with the Iowa Hawkeyes in 1967. He took over as coach of the St. Louis Blues in 1970, but was fired in November 1972 after a poor start. He was soon hired by the New York Islanders, who had set a record for futility in their inaugural season. In his first season, the Islanders improved from 30 to 56 points.

By 1974–75, they made the playoffs for the first time, rallying from a 3–0 series deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, only the second such comeback in major sports history. After several playoff disappointments, the Islanders won their first Stanley Cup in 1980 and then three more consecutively, setting a record for an American hockey club. Arbour retired from coaching after the 1985–86 season and became vice-president of player development.

Arbour returned to coach the Islanders from 1988–89 through 1993–94. In 1993, his team upset the two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs.

He retired after the 1993–94 season. On November 3, 2007, he returned to coach his 1,500th game for the Islanders, winning 3–2 against the Penguins. He is the only NHL coach to coach 1,500 games for the same team.

The Unusual Defender Who Collected Cups

Alger Joseph Arbour's path through professional hockey was marked by an uncommon blend of physicality and individuality. Born in Sudbury, Ontario, in 1932, he began as a defenceman with the Windsor Spitfires before turning pro with the Detroit Red Wings in 1953. Over the next two decades he skated for Chicago, Toronto, and St. Louis, collecting three Stanley Cups as a player. His 1961 title with the Black Hawks and his 1962 and 1964 championships with the Maple Leafs made him one of only eleven players to win the Cup with three or more different franchises, and one of eleven to capture consecutive titles with two separate clubs.

Arbour also served as the first captain of the expansion St. Louis Blues, enduring back-to-back-to-back Cup final losses in 1968, 1969, and 1970, each decided in just four games. Perhaps most memorably, Arbour competed while wearing eyeglasses, a rarity that made him the last NHL player to do so. He was also renowned for a defensive technique of lying flat in front of the goaltender to smother shots with his body.

Forging an American Dynasty

When the New York Islanders hired Arbour in 1973, the franchise had just set a league record for futility by losing sixty games in its inaugural season. What followed was one of the most sustained runs of excellence in professional sports. Arbour guided the Islanders to a winning record in every single season from 1974-75 through 1985-86, a stretch that produced four consecutive Stanley Cup championships between 1980 and 1983, a record for an American hockey club. Along the way, the team set marks for consecutive regular-season victories, consecutive appearances in the Finals, and most remarkably, nineteen straight playoff series wins through 1984.

That streak stands as an NHL and North American sports record. Arbour's 740 victories with the Islanders is the most ever recorded by a coach with a single franchise in NHL history, and he ranks seventh all-time in games coached and eighth in total wins. No team in any of the four major North American sports has matched the feat of four straight championships since.

From Futility to Comeback Kings

The early years of Arbour's tenure with the Islanders were defined by slow, grinding progress rather than instant triumph. In his first season the team finished last again but surrendered a hundred fewer goals and collected fifty-six points, a dramatic leap from thirty the year before. Rangers defenceman Brad Park, after New York finally beat their crosstown rivals, observed that the Islanders "have a system" and "look like a hockey team." The 1974-75 playoffs delivered the franchise's first postseason run, and the drama was extraordinary. After eliminating the Rangers in overtime of a deciding Game 3, the Islanders found themselves down three games to none against Pittsburgh.

They answered with three straight wins and closed out a 1-0 Game 7 victory, becoming only the second team in major sports history, and the first since 1942, to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a series. They then fell behind 3-0 to the Flyers, tied that series as well, but ultimately lost in Game 7. The pattern of resilience would echo through the 1979-80 campaign, when a mid-season acquisition of Butch Goring sparked a twelve-game unbeaten run that carried the team to their first Cup, sealed in overtime of Game 6.

Recognition, Return, and Enduring Mark

Arbour's contributions to hockey were formally acknowledged in multiple ways over the years. He received the Jack Adams Award in 1979 for his team's best-in-the-league regular season, and later was honored with the Lester Patrick Trophy for his broader impact on the sport. In 1996, he was enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

After stepping down from the bench in 1985-86, Arbour transitioned into an executive role as vice-president of player development for the Islanders, but he returned to coaching for the 1988-89 season and remained through 1993-94. That second stint included a memorable playoff upset over the two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins in 1993. His career spanned from amateur defenceman in Windsor to one of the most decorated coaches in league history, and his death on August 28, 2015, closed a chapter on an era in which a single franchise produced a run of dominance unmatched in North American professional sports for decades.

Reader's Guide

Al Arbour's significance lies in his unparalleled success as coach of the New York Islanders, leading them to four consecutive Stanley Cup championships from 1980 to 1983, a feat unmatched in the four major North American professional sports since that time. Under his guidance, the Islanders set a professional sports record of 19 consecutive playoff series victories, a mark that remains an NHL and North American sports record. His 740 wins with the Islanders are the most for a coach with one team in NHL history. Arbour was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the league's top coach in 1979 and received the Lester Patrick Trophy for his contributions to the sport.

He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996. Arbour's legacy also includes being the only NHL coach to coach 1,500 games for the same team, a milestone he reached in 2007. His coaching career spanned from 1967 to 1994, and he is remembered for turning a woeful expansion team into a dynasty.