Pat Burns, 1952-2010

He doesn’t hold many records and he didn’t win many Stanley Cups, but if you ask any hockey fan within the last 30 years, there was never a more intimidating man behind the bench than Pat Burns. One would expect no less from a hardnosed former police officer either. It is with sadness today that the hockey community and hockey fans around the world lost one of the best today, as Pat Burns passed away at the age of 58.   As tragic as his death is, the greatest tragedy of all is that the voters at the Hockey Hall of Fame made the most egregious mistake in leaving Burns out of the 2010 inductees, denying hockey fans the chance to listen to one of the most passionate fans of the game one last time.   Pat Burns began his coaching career in 1984, coaching the Hull Olympiques (now the Gatineau Olympiques) of the QMJHL for three seasons. Following his stint in the Q, Burns moved on to coach the Sherbrooke Canadiens of the AHL before being called on to lead the most storied franchise in hockey history, the Montreal Canadiens.   Burns’ career in the NHL didn’t begin like most coaching careers do. He didn’t take over a last place team and he wasn’t asked to rebuild from the ground up either. Just three short seasons prior, the Canadiens had won the Stanley Cup on the strength of future Hall of Famer Patrick Roy’s stellar goaltending. The season before, then coach Jean Perron led the Canadiens to first place in the Adams division, their third division title in seven seasons, and Pat Burns himself had a slew of future Hall of Famers and talented players at his disposal. In both Jean Perron’s final year and Pat Burns’ first year, the Canadiens lost out on the Presidents’ Trophy by two points to the Calgary Flames. In the 13 seasons that followed, Pat Burns created an identity for himself, one that no hockey fan will soon forget.   That begs the question, what kept the only three time Jack Adams award winner out of the Hockey Hall of Fame? What prompted voters, self admitted fans of the game, to deny Pat Burns’ entry into the most hallowed of hockey shrines? Whatever the reasons are, they’re wrong.

Admittedly, the first time I heard talk about Pat Burns and the Hall of Fame, I had my doubts and was on the wrong side of the fence. He isn’t in the top ten in games coached or coaching wins, he hasn’t won the most Stanley Cups (in fact, he’s only won one) and he doesn’t fall in the top 20 in win percentage. Many of the coaches listed ahead of him are also not yet in the hall, but none of them were as intimidating and integral to their team’s successes and failures as Pat was. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Burns likely would have been on those lists with all of the greats, had his career not ended abruptly following the 2003-04 season with a second diagnosis of cancer. At 52 years of age and after 14 NHL seasons, one of the greats was forced to “hang them up”.

Behind that mean mug was what we learned, albeit recently, a soft spoken man with a huge heart and a huge passion for hockey. A man who went to great lengths to get the most of his players and a man who made sure his players gave nothing less than 110%. A man who wasn’t looking to be your friend, but a man who was looking to make you not only a better player, but a better person. Three times he won the Jack Adams award as the best coach in the NHL, more than anyone else since the award was introduced at the conclusion of the 1973-74 season. In 1,019 games, Burns finished with a 501-350-161-14 regular season record, adding to that 11 playoff appearances, two Stanley Cup finals appearances and one Stanley Cup championship.

The current rules of the Hockey Hall of Fame state that a maximum of two builders can be inducted in one year and in 2010, those two were James Devellano, long time front office man of the Detroit Red Wings and Daryl Seaman, one of the main businessmen that brought the Atlanta Flames to Calgary in 1980 and a huge part of the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Both of these men are fine choices so I understand that the quota was filled. What about in 2007, 2008 and 2009 when only one builder was selected? Surely they could have found room for Burns in 2007 when Jim Gregory was inducted alone, or in 2008 when Ed Chynoweth was the sole builder chosen. Or perhaps in somewhat of a storybook finish to a great career, in 2009 alongside Lou Lamoriello, the man who hired him in New Jersey when he won his only championship.

No, Burns wasn’t selected then and he wasn’t selected in 2010, a blemish that will remain forever and one that deprived us all of a proper send off.

Only a few things in this world will get Leafs fans and Habs fans to agree on something and the greatness of Pat Burns was one of them. There is no mulligan and there is no recount of votes. The Hall of Fame committee got this one wrong and when they finally induct Pat Burns posthumously, they will never correct this error. There are currently more media members in the hall than coaches, of which there are only 14. This is in no way a knock on those media members who have been inducted, but a knock on the committee for ignoring the men that stand behind the bench and teach the game we love. Pat Burns should have been #15 and on November 8th, 2010, we should all have had the great pleasure of one last speech, one last hurrah and one last show of passion from one of the best that ever graced the game. Had he not been able to attend, one last cheer for Pat from fans everywhere would have sufficed. A room full of the who’s who of hockey, the best of the best, on their feet giving him one last standing ovation.

Instead, on November 19th, 2010, the NHL and hockey fans everywhere bid farewell to the man with the mean mug, big personality and even bigger heart and rallied together to make sure his name will one day sit beside the greats that entered the hallowed hall before him, where it belongs.