Al Arbour

Lore & Background

Born in Sudbury, Ontario, Arbour played amateur hockey as a defenceman with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. He played his first professional games with the Detroit Red Wings in 1953. Claimed by the Chicago Black Hawks in 1958, Arbour would help the team win a championship in 1961. Arbour played with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the next five years, winning another Cup in 1962.

He was selected by the St. Louis Blues in their 1967 expansion draft and played his final four seasons with the team. During his last year with the Blues, Arbour was hired mid-season to coach the team. In 107 games, he led them to a 42–40–25 record, but only one playoff series win. After a woeful expansion season in 1972-73 in which the New York Islanders were coached by Phil Goyette and Earl Ingarfield, the club hired Arbour as its new coach in 1973.

Arbour led the team to a winning record every season from 1974–75 until he stepped down in 1985–86. Arbour won nineteen consecutive playoff series, which remains an NHL and North American sports record. He was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the league's top coach in 1979. Upon retiring from the bench, Arbour was named vice-president of player development for the Islanders.

He returned to coach the Islanders in the 1988–89 season and remained there through 1993-94, notably upsetting the two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1993 playoffs. He was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for his contributions to the sport and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996.

Reader's Guide

Arbour started his playing career in 1954 with the Detroit Red Wings. He later skated for the Chicago Black Hawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and St. Louis Blues. Arbour won the Stanley Cup as a player with the 1960–61 Chicago Black Hawks and the 1961–62 and 1963–64 Toronto Maple Leafs. Arbour, along with teammate Ed Litzenberger, is one of eleven players to win consecutive Stanley Cups with two different teams.

He is one of only 11 players in Stanley Cup history to win the Cup with three or more different teams. Arbour was also the first captain of the expansion St. Louis Blues, and played for them when they lost in Cup finals in 1968, 1969, 1970 (all in four consecutive games). One of the few professional athletes to wear eyeglasses when competing, Arbour was the last NHL player to wear them on the ice. Arbour was also known for laying down in front of the goaltender to block shots on goal with his body.

He began his coaching career with the Iowa Hawkeyes hockey team in 1967 and at the time led them in his first year to their best record at .500. In June 1970, he took over as coach for the Blues after Scotty Bowman decided to focus on the general manager position. As it turned out, Arbour coached 50 games while Bowman coached the rest. The following year saw Arbour coach 44 of the games while Sid Abel and Bill McCreary.

Following two additional seasons with St. Louis, he was fired by the team on November 8, 1972 and replaced by Jean-Guy Talbot after the team won two of its first thirteen games. He was soon recruited by GM Bill Torrey to take over a young New York Islanders team that had set a then-NHL record for futility by losing 60 games in their inaugural season, 1972–73. In his first season as Isles' coach, Arbour's team finished last in the league for the second year in a row, but gave up 100 fewer goals and earned 56 points, up from 30 the year before.

The 1974–75 Islanders finished third in their division with 88 points, which qualified them for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. They defeated the Rangers in overtime of the deciding third game of their first-round series. In the next round, the Isles found themselves down three games to none in a best of seven quarter-final series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Islanders rebounded with three straight victories to tie the series, then prevailed in Game 7 by a score of 1–0.

The Strategic Foundation

Before the glory days began, Al Arbour helped steer a franchise born out of expansion. The Islanders were established in 1972. After a woeful expansion season in 1972-73 in which the New York Islanders were coached by Phil Goyette and Earl Ingarfield, the club hired Arbour as its new coach in 1973. Arbour led the team to a winning record every season from 1974–75 until he stepped down in 1985–86.

In his first season as Isles' coach, Arbour's team finished last in the league for the second year in a row, but gave up 100 fewer goals and earned 56 points, up from 30 the year before. Despite achieving great regular season success, culminating in the 1978–79 campaign in which they finished with the best record in the NHL, the Islanders suffered a series of letdowns in the playoffs. In both 1976 and 1977, they lost in the semi-finals to the eventual champion Montreal Canadiens, and then suffered an upset loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1978 quarter-finals, on a game-winning goal by Lanny McDonald in overtime of Game 7.

Then, in 1979, the rival Rangers defeated Arbour's Islanders in the semi-finals 4–2. Arbour won the Jack Adams Award for the team's stellar regular season.

An Unbroken Chain of Victory

The most defining statistic of Al Arbour's career is the nineteen-game playoff series winning streak achieved between 1980 and 1984, a record that stands as an unparalleled benchmark in professional sports history. This run included four straight Stanley Cup titles, making the Islanders the last team in any major North American sport to accomplish such a feat. Arbour's teams did not just win; they dominated with a consistency that saw them secure winning records every season from 1974–75 until he stepped down in 1985–86. Arbour's ability to maintain such high performance levels over multiple seasons created a golden age that separated the Islanders from all other teams during that specific window of time.

Enduring Hall of Fame Legacy

Al Arbour's impact on the New York Islanders extends far beyond his coaching tenure. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996. Arbour is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, New York Islanders Hall of Fame, Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame, and St. Louis Blues Hall of Fame. On November 3, 2007, Arbour returned, at the request of Islanders coach Ted Nolan, to coach his 1,500th game for the Islanders. The Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3–2, giving Arbour his 740th win. The 739-win banner was brought down, and replaced with one with the number 1500, representing the total number of games coached. He is the only coach in NHL history to coach 1,500 games for the same team. Arbour died on August 28, 2015, in Sarasota, Florida, aged 82.

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