#4 – Pat Burns
For the 1992-93 season, Pat Burns took over a miserable Maple Leafs squad who only won 30 games the previous season under head coach Tom Watt. Burns had an immediate impact turning the team’s fortunes around.
Burns first season with the Buds was his fifth in the league. He showed his value, leading the team back into the playoffs. They hadn’t been there for the last three seasons. Prior to Burns’ arrival, the Leafs last appearance in the postseason lasted five games of which they won only one.
That 1993 group not only made the playoffs, but made it all the way to the third round, the Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Kings. They lost that series in seven games after referee Kerry Frasier infamously missed a high stick in Game 6 from Wayne Gretzky on Doug Gilmour. A five-minute major call could have helped the Leafs advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Burns’ ability to lift the team and get them to play to their best abilities was recognized by those around the league. He won the Jack Adams Award, which was the first time a Leafs coach had ever been given the honour. In fact, Burns remains the only person to win the award while with the Leafs. Burns himself had been named the Jack Adams recipient on two other occasions, once prior to joining the Leafs and again after he left Toronto.
Burns didn’t just have one great year with the Buds. In 1994, he took the team back to the Conference Finals, but they were eliminated by a Vancouver Canucks team being coached by Pat Quinn. The following year, Burns’ Leafs lost in the opening round to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Burns record in the postseason with the Maple Leafs was 23-23. Through his four regular season’s in the Big Smoke, his record was much better. In 281 games he posted 133 wins, 107 losses, and 41 ties. That’s a points percentage of 54.6.
Burns remains one of the Leafs best coaches because of his ability to adapt in-game, motivate his teams, and pick up wins.
While coaching the New Jersey Devils in 2003, Burns finally won the Stanley Cup. He coached just one more season after that and called it a career at age 51. He was battling cancer at the time, which took his life in 2010. Four years after his death, Burns was inducted into the Hall of Fame.