Pat Quinn (ice hockey)

John Brian Patrick Quinn, (January 29, 1943 – November 23, 2014) was a Canadian ice hockey player, head coach, and executive.

Coming out of the junior ranks with the Edmonton Oil Kings, he won a Memorial Cup with the club in 1963.

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 Finals, 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 season during his fourth year.

Quinn briefly left hockey, but remained in the Philadelphia area to attend law school at Widener University.

Known by the nickname "The Big Irishman", he coached for the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Edmonton Oilers, reaching the Stanley Cup Finals twice, with the Flyers in 1980 and the Canucks in 1994.

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.

In his first season back coaching, Quinn returned the Kings to the playoffs after a two-year absence with a 23-point improvement in the standings, but were swept in the opening round by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers.

In December 1986, Quinn signed a contract to become the President and General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks for the 1987–88 NHL season while still under contract with the Kings.

Quinn, a lawyer, maintained that the Kings had missed a deadline on an option on his contract, which had a clause allowing him to negotiate with other teams.

NHL President John Ziegler suspended Quinn for the rest of the season and barred him from taking over Vancouver's hockey operations until June.

Restricted from coaching, Quinn joined the Canucks the following season in 1987–88 as President and General Manager.

He made his first significant transaction, bringing in future franchise goaltender Kirk McLean from the New Jersey Devils along with forward Greg Adams, for centre Patrik Sundström and the Canucks' 1988 fourth-round draft pick (Matt Ruchty), on September 15, 1987.

Quinn continued to make an impact in his first two NHL Entry Drafts, selecting future team captain Trevor Linden second overall in 1988 and Pavel Bure 113th overall in 1989.

Linden went on to become the franchise's all-time leading scorer and have his jersey retired by the Canucks.

Bure, meanwhile, won the Calder Memorial Trophy as league rookie-of-the-year in his first year and recorded three 50-goal seasons with the Canucks and also had his jersey retired.

Bure's selection was highly controversial, however, as Quinn had seemingly chosen him a year ahead of his eligible draft season.

At the age of 18, Bure was available to be chosen in the first three rounds of the draft, but in order to be selected any later than that, he would have had to play in at least two seasons (with a minimum of 11 games per season) for his elite-level European club, the Central Red Army.

The Canucks' head scout at the time, Mike Penny, discovered that Bure had played in additional exhibition and international games to make him an eligible late-round draft choice a year early, however.

Quinn originally intended to draft Bure in the eighth round, but after receiving word that the Edmonton Oilers had similar intentions, he selected him in the sixth.

Team executives reportedly stormed the Met Center stage in Minnesota, where the draft was being held, protesting the choice immediately following its announcement.

Ziegler also barred Quinn from coaching anywhere in the NHL until the 1990–91 season.

In Ziegler's view, Quinn's actions created a serious conflict of interest that could only be resolved by having him removed as coach.

The Kings tried unsuccessfully to sue the Canucks for tampering.

Internationally, Quinn coached Team Canada to gold medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics, 2008 IIHF World U18 Championships and 2009 World Junior Championship, as well as World Cup championship in 2004.

Prior to coaching, Quinn was an NHL defenceman, having played nine seasons in the league with the Maple Leafs, Canucks and Atlanta Flames.

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.

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.