Pat Quinn Passes Away

Former Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman and Head Coach Pat Quinn passed away on Sunday night at Vancouver General Hospital.

Born in Hamilton, Ontario on January 29th, 1943, Quinn made his NHL debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1968/69. He spent two seasons with the team, playing 99 games and notching fifteen points before moving on to Vancouver and Atlanta, where he retired in 1977. His playing career is probably best highlighted by this hit on Bobby Orr.

After his playing career was over, Quinn moved on to coaching. He spent four seasons behind the bench of the Philadelphia Flyers, three in Los Angeles, a hair over four in Vancouver, before joining the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1998/99, turning a struggling team around and bringing them to the Eastern Conference Finals. Quinn remained the coach of the Leafs until 2005/06, and even spent a few of those years dual-shifting as General Manager as well. After Toronto, Quinn spent a year coaching the Edmonton Oilers.

Over his NHL coaching career, Quinn made 15 playoff appearances, heading to the conference finals four times (two with Toronto) and the Stanley Cup Finals twice. He boasted a 684-528-154-34 record, leaving him fourth all time in wins. In the playoffs, his record of 94-89 puts him over 0.500.

As well, Quinn had spectacular success internationally, leading Canada’s 2002 Olympic, 2004 World Cup, 2008 U18, and 2009 World Junior teams to Gold Medals, along with coaching the 2006 Spengler Cup and Olympic teams.

Quinn was 71.