As the general manager of the Montreal Canadiens, Gainey's opinion is widely sought.

Gainey an instant hit
behind the bench
By John McGourty | NHL.com
March 11, 2005

He was the perfect blend of smarts, skill and desire.

Bob Gainey's place in hockey history was well documented when he added a new wrinkle and took on the coaching duties of the 1990-91 Minnesota North Stars.

As a player, Gainey won five Stanley Cups and played in four NHL All-Star Games during his 16 seasons, all in Montreal. When the NHL created the Frank J. Selke Trophy to recognize the contributions of defensive forwards, it was a no-brainer that Gainey was going to be the first recipient. In fact, he won the Selke the first four seasons it was awarded.

But Gainey was far from a one-dimensional checker. He won the 1979 Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP when he had six goals (including a game winner) and 10 assists in 16 games. Gainey also represented his country in four Canada Cups.

In fact, if this story were merely about Gainey's playing skills, we could establish his greatness by repeating the compliment given by Viktor Tikhonov, the legendary hard-edged Soviet coach, "Bob Gainey is the finest technical hockey player in the world."

Today, Gainey is in his second stint as an NHL general manager. He took over the helm of the North Stars in 1992 and guided them through their move to Dallas the following year. He continued through the 2001-02 season, when he turned the reins over to assistant Doug Armstrong. Under Gainey's leadership, the Stars won five divisional titles and the 1999 Stanley Cup. They were defeated in the Finals the following season by the New Jersey Devils.

Gainey has been at the helm of the Canadiens since 2003.

But it was that first season behind the bench of an NHL team that showed Gainey would be every bit as effective behind the bench or in the front office as he had been on the ice. Gainey guided the North Stars to a 27-39-14 record, squeaking into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Bob Clarke was the North Stars' general manager who hired Gainey as coach. At a Philadelphia Flyers alumni dinner a few years ago, he recalled the interview process.

"I picked Bob up at the airport and we drove down to my place at the Jersey Shore," Clarke said. "We stayed up most of the night talking hockey. When I woke up, I thought, 'What am I worried about? Of course Bob Gainey can coach hockey. When it comes to hockey, he's the smartest guy I know.' Easiest, best decision I ever made."

"Clarke and Gainey are good friends and good hockey men who work well together," said Bobby Smith, a standout on that team who would go on to be GM of the Phoenix Coyotes and is now majority owner of the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. "There was no question about who was coaching and who was managing. On successful teams, you can see from afar that the coach and GM are working together, not against each other. We had that feeling with Clarke and Gainey."

What happened next was the stuff of legends. After stumbling through most of the regular season, the North Stars defeated the No. 1 Chicago Blackhawks in six games, the St. Louis Blues in six games and the Edmonton Oilers in five games before losing the Stanley Cup Finals in six games to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"That was a highlight of my time in coaching and managing," Gainey said recently. "We had a lot of great things that happened that year. We were within minutes of knocking out the Penguins. We had them down and on the run in their building in Game 5. Paul Coffey was on the bench with an injury and Mario Lemieux was on his back in the dressing room with back pains. But they came back to win that game, 6-4, on Ron Francis's goal. Then they won Game 6. We needed to beat them in five games, not in seven. It would have been a nice Cinderella win."

"I'm a firm believer the game is won by the players, but I thought Bob Gainey did an outstanding job with that team," said Smith, who had five game-winning goals in those playoffs, including both game-winners in the Finals. "There were several remarkable things about that team that speak to good coaching. There must have been eight, nine or 10 times that year that we answered an opponent's goal within a minute. Our power play was good throughout that year and I think we scored 16 power-play goals in the opening series against Chicago. We beat them 6-0 on their own rink and had five power-play goals that night. And, we won the first game of every series that year. That says a lot about your preparation. A team that wins three playoff rounds does a lot of things right."

Gainey was a Hall of Fame player for the Canadiens.

"The Blackhawks were a very rugged team and very confident," Gainey said. "I thought if we could play a very disciplined style, avoid retaliation penalties, we could have a chance against them."

"We knew that with Mike Keenan coaching the Blackhawks that they would try to intimidate us," said Stew Gavin, an excellent defensive center. "We knew they were not as disciplined as we could be so we goaded them and turned the other cheek when they took penalties. That frustrated them even more and that was the turning point. A lot of teams win with more bravado than smarts. Hockey players don't turn the other cheek. We did and we saw the success we had. Our power play took advantage of their lack of discipline and we won the series."

"We won Game 1 in overtime in Chicago and then lost Game 2 there," Smith recalled. "We had a 5-2 lead at home in Game 3 and lost 7-5. That should have been a backbreaker for us. We stole a game in the other guys' rink and then they'd taken back home-ice advantage on us.

"I don't remember many pre-game talks in my career, but Bob Gainey met with the team the day before Game 4 and instead of giving us the business, which we probably deserved, he told us how well we played and said they only had a guy or two playing as well as us. We really responded to that and won the next three games, then eliminated the No. 2 team, St. Louis, and the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Edmonton Oilers. Had it not been for that meeting after Game 3, we'd have gone home in Round 1."

"I was scared to death of the Blues," Gainey admitted. "They had Brett Hull and Adam Oates, second and third in scoring behind Wayne Gretzky that year. Vincent Riendeau and Curtis Joseph had excellent seasons in goal. They had a good defense after they added Scott Stevens that year. The Blues had additional good scorers in Geoff Courtnall, Cliff Ronning and Rod Brind'Amour and they picked up Dan Quinn at the trading deadline. Plus, Brian Sutter was the coach of the year.

"Bob Gainey and his staff gave us a specific game plan and we stuck to it," Gavin said. "I was on a line with Gaetan Duchesne and Neal Broten. Hull was a huge threat and I was glued on him. I enjoyed the challenge. Hull and his teammates got increasingly frustrated.

"The big underlying theme in the playoffs was discipline," Gavin continued. "They got frustrated. We got under their skins. They got on the referees. We learned to irritate them and not retaliate. Every single guy on that team elevated his game and everyone played a really important role: The one the coaches assigned him."

"We didn't have the best start and in mid-season we traded defensemen with Pittsburgh, giving up Larry Murphy and Peter Taglianetti for Chris Dahlquist and Jim Johnson," Gainey said. "Losing Murphy meant we gave up a lot of offense, but we had forwards that made up the difference and our defense really came together. Plus, Bobby Smith started playing like it was 1986 again. Brian Bellows played like it was 1988 and Jon Casey elevated his game in goal."

"We had a lot of good players, it just took us a while to gel," Smith said. "We almost won the Stanley Cup from the No. 16 seed. We had a 2-1 lead in the series and teams with a 2-1 record have had good success. I played in the Finals four times and that was one of the highlights of my career. Casey was outstanding in goal. Mark Tinordi really stepped as an elite defenseman and a lot of our forwards played a lot of good hockey. The Twin Cities really got behind us and Bob Gainey was the perfect coach for that group."