Former NHL coach Pat Burns loses his battle with cancer
Stanley Cup winning coach Pat Burns lost his battle with lung cancer on Friday 19 November. The 58 year-old Burns passed away at Maison Aube-Lumiere in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
Burns’ National Hockey League coaching career lasted 14 years. During that time he coached 1019 games, won a Stanley Cup and won the Jack Adams Award, for coach of the year, a record three
times.
Coaching hockey was Burns’ second career. He was a policeman in Gatineau, Quebec when he first began coaching minor hockey. Burns worked his way up in the police department, eventually
becoming a detective. He simultaneously worked his way up the coaching ranks, becoming the head coach of the major junior hockey Hull Olympiques.
Burns came to a career crossroad after taking the Olympiques to the Memorial Cup final in 1986. A talk with the new owner of the Olympiques, Wayne Gretzky, convinced Burns to quit his
job with the police and focus on coaching full time.
Burns stayed with Hull until the 1987 season. His next step up the coaching ladder was with the American Hockey League’s Sherbrooke Canadiens. He coached Sherbrooke for one season before
being tapped to be the head coach of the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens made it to the Stanley Cup final in Burns’ first season as head coach, falling to the Calgary Flames in six games. Burns won his first Jack Adams award at the conclusion
of his rookie NHL coaching season.
He stayed with Montreal for four seasons, compiling a record of 174-104-42 during that time. Even though he posted the best record of any NHL coach in that four-year span, Burns decided
to move on and he accepted a job offer from Cliff Fletcher, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Burns would last four years as the head coach of the Maple Leafs before being fired at the end of the 1996 season. He took the Leafs to the playoffs in each of his four seasons behind
the bench, winning his second coach-of-the-year award in 1993.
Fletcher recalled, “Hiring him (Burns) 18 years ago was easily my best decision in hockey, and we developed a great friendship that I will always treasure.”
After he was let go by the Maple Leafs he spent a year out of hockey before getting a call to coach the Boston Bruins. As with his previous two coaching jobs, his tenure with the Bruins
lasted four years. He was fired at the end of the 2001 season and replaced by Mike Keenan.
His third Jack Adams award came when he was behind the Bruins bench. Burns took home the award at the end of the 1998 season.
Burns was out of hockey for two years before getting a call from New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello. Lamoriello took a chance on Burns, a coach who, many thought, time had passed by.
Burns was seen as a gruff, no-nonsense coach and many felt that style would no longer be effective in the NHL.
Burns’ style remained effective and he rewarded Lamoriello’s faith in him by leading the Devils to victory in the 2003 Stanley Cup final.
After his Devils were eliminated from the 2004 playoffs, Burns was diagnosed with colon cancer. He stepped down from the Devils’ coaching position and went through treatment to battle
the disease.
In 2005, more treatment followed when it was discovered that the cancer had moved to his liver. Burns underwent surgery and chemotherapy. It was thought he was cancer free until 2009 when
he learned that the disease had moved to his lungs.
Burns put off treatment of his third cancer for some time before finally deciding to undergo more chemotherapy.
Earlier this year reports surfaced that Burns had died. The information spread quickly and he called his friend Bob McKenzie and said, “If anyone is going to tell them all I’m still alive,
it’s got to be you, because you’ve always done it for me. Here we go again. They’re trying to kill me before I’m dead. They’ve had me dead since June. Tell them I’m alive. Set them straight.”
Burns’ last appearance in public was in October of this year. He attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the arena that will be named after him in Stanstead, Quebec.
Burns is survived by his wife, a son, a daughter, a stepson and a stepdaughter.
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