Marc Crawford
Marc Crawford ( born February 13, 1961 in Belleville, Ontario) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and current coach. He is currently the head coach of the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League A.
- 2.1 NHL coach statistics
- 4.1 As a player
- 4.2 As a coach
Career as a player
Marc Crawford began his career in 1978 at the Cornwall Royals in the Canadian Junior Football League QMJHL. There he developed into a good scorer and took in his first season 69 points in 70 games. In his second year with the Royals Crawford won the championship of the QMJHL and thus qualified for the final round at the Memorial Cup, the most coveted trophy in the Canadian Hockey players under 21 years who was able to win the team at the end.
Crawford was then selected in the NHL Entry Draft in 1980 by the Vancouver Canucks in the fourth round at position 70. He stayed another year in the QMJHL, could defend with the Royals to the Memorial Cup and finished with 99 points in 63 games his best season. He also showed with 242 penalty minutes that he had also mastered the physical game.
From the autumn of 1981 he was a member of the Organization of the Vancouver Canucks and completed parts of the season in the NHL and the farm team, the Dallas Black Hawks in the CHL. With the Canucks, he participated in the playoffs and was a finalist for the Stanley Cup, which was the New York Islanders decide for themselves.
He did not make it to prevail at the Canucks and commuted the next few years between Vancouver and Fredericton, where the AHL farm team Fredericton Express was located. As he was traveling by air between the two cities often, he was nicknamed " 747 ".
He had his best NHL season 1985/86 when he was allowed to complete 54 games for the Canucks, scoring 25 points. His last assignment in the NHL he had in 1987 and he played in the 1987/88 season exclusively for Fredericton Express. In 1988 he moved to the Milwaukee Admirals in the IHL, where he ended his career in the summer of 1989.
NHL player statistics
Career as a coach
Crawford wanted to continue to work in the sport of ice hockey and decided to become a coach. Only a few months after the end of his playing career he took over in 1989 as coach at his former junior team Cornwall Royals, which is now playing in the OHL. However, after two unsuccessful years, he left the team again.
The management of the Toronto Maple Leafs but liked his work in spite of failure in the OHL and they wanted to sign him as a future head coach. In 1991, he became the coach of the St. John 's Maple Leafs, the AHL farm team of Toronto, was appointed. In his first year he led the team to the final of the Calder Cup, but where it lost. 1992/93 was able to get his team 41 wins and qualify for the playoffs again. For his work, Crawford was awarded the Louis AR Pieri Award as the best coach of the AHL. He coached the team one more season and there were rumors that he was to the Toronto Maple Leafs take over soon.
But in the summer of 1994, he received an offer from the Quebec Nordiques of the NHL, which he accepted. Under his leadership, the team finished the regular season in second place in the NHL, but in the playoffs that already came off in the first round. Nevertheless, the result was considered a success, as the Nordiques had previously missed the playoffs six times in seven seasons. Crawford was honored as best coach in the NHL with the Jack Adams Award.
A few weeks later the Nordiques moved to Denver due to financial problems and began calling themselves Colorado Avalanche. The team finished the 1995/96 season again as the second- best team in the NHL, but with substantially lag behind the Detroit Red Wings, on the precautions you should take in the Western Conference Finals. But the Avalanche was the better team and beat the Red Wings in six games. In the Stanley Cup Final, the Avalanche had then no effort and defeated the Florida Panthers 4-0. With Crawford as coach the franchise could instantly win the Stanley Cup in his first year in Colorado.
It was expected by Crawford that he would lead the team to another Stanley Cup victories in the regular season and was one of the dominant teams Colorado, but in the playoffs it was not enough to the Stanley Cup final. After a first-round from the 1997/98 season, the management of the Avalanche wanted to extend the contract by one year of Crawford, who was of the opinion, however, that he deserved a longer- term contract. It was followed by the separation.
During the 1998/99 season Crawford was at the Vancouver Canucks, for whom he was already active as a player, a new position. He could no longer lead the team in the remaining games in the playoffs, winning only eight of 37 games. But in the following season, things turned around and 2000/ 01 were the Canucks again in the playoffs. Under his leadership the team but never got beyond the second round. His term ended in April 2006 as the Canucks are not able to qualify for the playoffs.
In the summer of 2006 he received a contract with the Los Angeles Kings. But even there it did not go better for him. Especially the goalkeeper ensured in the season 2006/ 07 for problems, because on the one did not bring the desired performance and treat injuries sustained to other injuries. A total of five goalkeepers put Crawford in the course of a season. At the end of the season only two of the 30 NHL teams were worse than Los Angeles.
The following season was a disappointing one for the Kings, after Crawford was released in summer 2008. In the seasons 2009 /10 and 2010/11 he served as head coach of the Dallas Stars with whom he each narrowly missed a place in the playoffs. On April 12, 2011 Crawford was relieved of his duties in Dallas. In July 2012, he was introduced as the new head coach of the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League A.
Besides his work at the national level, he was also head coach of the Canadian national team at the 1998 Winter Olympics, who graduated the team in fourth place. Criticism he earned that he did compete in the semifinals Ray Bourque instead of Wayne Gretzky during the shootout against the Czech Republic.
NHL coach statistics
Status: End of Season 2010/11
S = Wins; N = Losses; D = Draw; OTL = Overtime Loss ( defeat in extension )
Special
- Marc Crawford won the 1995 Jack Adams Award as the best coach in the NHL. He was the first coach to receive this award in his first year as NHL coach. He was also the age of 34 the youngest coach to win the award.
Awards and achievements
As a player
- Memorial Cup in 1980 and 1981
- Memorial Cup All-Star Team in 1981
As a coach
- Stanley Cup 1996
- Jack Adams Award 1995
- Louis AR Pieri Award 1993 ( Best coach of the AHL )