Punch Imlach

His fortunes changed as Toronto was in the dumps and the committee (including Imlach of course), fired the head coach and named Imlach as the new bench boss. The change worked for the best as the team improved immediately, and after a few years he would lead Toronto to the Stanley Cup. He would do it again three more times in the 1960’s, although as he was as controversial as he was successful, as Imlach was far from a player friendly coach (ask Frank Mahovolich and Carl Brewer) and if you were pro-union, you could forget about being on his good side. After his squad was blow out of the playoffs in 1969, Imlach was fired, but was hired by the Buffalo Sabres as their General Manager and Coach, and brought them up to a contender in the 1970’s.

Although Punch Imlach was a controversial figure in hockey, he was a successful one (with the exception of his disastrous return to the Leafs in 1979) and he took his rightful slot in the Hockey HOF in 1984.



Elected In:
1984