Brad McCrimmon

Byron Brad McCrimmon ( born March 29, 1959 in Plenty, Saskatchewan; † 7 September 2011 in Tunoschna near Yaroslavl, Russia) was a Canadian ice hockey player (defender), who from 1979 to 1997 for the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames, Detroit Red Wings, Hartford Whalers and Phoenix Coyotes played in the National Hockey League. As of May 2011, he was head coach of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League. He died 7 September 2011 in the plane crash near Yaroslavl, when he was with his team on the way to an away game to Minsk.

  • 2.1 As a player 2.1.1 International
  • 3.1 As a player
  • 3.2 As a coach

Career

As a player

Brad McCrimmon started his career with the Prince Albert Raiders in the SJHL, before moving in 1976 to the Brandon Wheat Kings in the high-class Canadian junior league WCHL. He established himself immediately as one of the strongest defenders of the league offensively with 84 points in his first 72 games and went to the final one to the WCHL championship, failed there but at the New Westminster Bruins. In his second year, he increased his haul to 97 points scorer, was fifth best assist provider of the league and won the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as the best defender of the WCHL. He also won in the U20 World Cup in 1978 with the Canadian selection the bronze medal. In the 1978/79 season McCrimmon led the Wheat Kings as a team captain on the ice to win the President's Cup as champions of the WCHL. The following Memorial Cup tournament they closed the first round from in the first place, failed in the final against the Peterborough Petes but in the extension.

In the NHL Entry Draft 1979 McCrimmon was 15 selected by the Boston Bruins in the first round of position and moved directly into the NHL, where he 1979/80 his first season as a professional graduated from Boston. In his early years he performed well in defense and showed a hard physical style of play, but could not build on the productivity of its junior time. In the summer of 1982 he was transferred to the Philadelphia Flyers, where he stabilized his offensive performance and 1984/85 the second best defender of the Flyers with 43 ​​points from 66 games was scorer. The increase in performance led directly to an invitation to the NHL All-Star Game in 1985, but he had to cancel his participation because of an injury. He also lacked in the playoffs, while his teammates lost the Stanley Cup final against the Edmonton Oilers to Wayne Gretzky.

As a result, McCrimmon was to their service providers with Brian Propp also belonged to a friend from junior McCrimmons time to a constant in the very strong offensive team the Flyers. 1985/86 he then had the best season of his career, when he set personal highs with 13 goals, 43 assists and 56 scorer points, and the following year he reached with the Flyers return to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they but again against the Edmonton Oilers documents.

Shortly after the final defeat McCrimmon was sent to a transfer of business to the Calgary Flames and started from its his good form. During the 1987/88 season he has been invited to the NHL All-Star Game, closed the season from the best plus / minus percentage in the league and was elected to the NHL Second All-Star Team. But the greatest success of his career, he celebrated in the 1988/89 season, when he moved into the Stanley Cup final with the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens was beaten there, the Canadian duel. In the following season McCrimmon led the Flames as a team captain, but remained only until the summer of 1990 in Calgary and was transferred to the Detroit Red Wings.

While he sat in the last two seasons in Calgary already much less emphasis on the offensive, this trend also continued in Detroit, where he mainly focused on the defense work and its productivity in attack continued to decline. There were injuries that left him sidelined for a long time. After three years in Detroit, he was sent to the Hartford Whalers in 1993. Further back by injuries, he no longer belonged in the last years of his career to the main performers of the team. 1996 McCrimmon wrote a contract with the Phoenix Coyotes, arrived in less than half of the games used and eventually finished in the summer of 1997 his career.

As a coach

A few months after the end of his playing career, he was appointed by the New York Islanders of the NHL to assistant coach Rick Bowness in August 1997. As Bowness was made redundant in March 1998, also McCrimmon had to leave his post, but remained until the summer as a talent scout in the organization. He then took over as coach for the Saskatoon Blades of the Canadian Junior Football League WHL. The Blades had previously been completed in the three years the seasons with a negative balance, but in 1998/99 they played under McCrimmon the worst season in 29 years. The following season, the team presented but significantly better, finished the main round in second place of their division and reached the second round of the playoffs.

But in the summer of 2000 he left the Saskatoon Blades and was an assistant coach with the Calgary Flames by Bob Hay, who has been laid off during the 2000/ 01 season. But McCrimmon was also under his successor Greg Gilbert coaching staff. When, however, after the first months of the 2002 /03 offing the seventh missed qualifying for the playoffs, both Gilbert and McCrimmon had to abandon their posts and McCrimmon remained until the end of the season as a scout for the Flames early December 2002. In the spring of 2003 he worked in parallel to his duties in Calgary for the Canadian Hockey Association Hockey Canada as assistant coach of the junior national team that won the gold medal at the U18 World Cup.

For the season 2003/ 04 he was assistant head coach Bob Hartley at the Atlanta Thrashers, the best season completed under the coaching team since its inception. While the NHL season 2004/ 05 failed because of the lockout, McCrimmon moved to Germany in the DEL and assisted with the Frankfurt Lions. In the fall of 2005, he returned to Atlanta, and he succeeded with Bob Hartley to increase the result of the season compared to last season continues; the playoff qualification was residue but missed again with two points. The following season, the Thrashers finally took for the first time in the final round, but failed in the first round, and after the team had a poor start to the 2007/ 08 season, head coach Bob Hartley was fired. McCrimmon but retained his post and worked on the side of General Manager Don Waddell, who took over as coach until the end of the season.

In the summer of 2008, the Detroit Red Wings him committed as a replacement for Todd McLellan, who had given up his job as an assistant coach on the side of Mike Babcock to become head coach of the San Jose Sharks. 29 May 2011 McCrimmon was introduced as head coach of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League.

Career Stats

As a player

Internationally

Represented Team Canada at:

  • Junior World Cup 1978
  • World Youth Championship 1979

( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )

As a coach

Awards and achievements

As a player

As a coach

  • 2003 Gold medal at the U18 World Youth Championship ( as assistant coach )
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