Tommy Ivan

Tommy Ivan may not have made it to the NHL as a player (a serious cheekbone injury as an amateur player derailed that) but through a series of circumstances he found himself as the Head Coach of the Detroit Red Wings. He inherited a team with young talent on the rise and honed their skills to where they won three Stanley Cups in the early 1950’s. Ivan would seek a new challenge and left Detroit to Chicago in 1954. The Blackhawks were in the dregs of the National Hockey League and through slow rebuilding took them to the Stanley Cup in 1961 as its General Manager and were a Cup contender for years to come.