A 102 Year History of Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coaches

Red Kelly

After McLellan stepped down from the position and took an assistant GM role, and Red Kelly, who had played 8 season with the team and won four Stanley Cups with them, stepped up to a four-year tenure in the position between 1973-1977.

The team had a playoff run in all four years of Kelly as head coach but never made it past the quarterfinals and he was let go at the end of the 1976-77 season by the general manager at the time, Harold Ballard.

Ballard then hired Roger Nielson in 1977, only to then fire him in 1979 and due to general outrage from media, fans and even players, rehire him; Nielson left the team .

Despite a short time with the Leafs, Nielson is known for his legacy in innovation to the game, his most known idea was the use of watching tape to analyze other teams play. Nielson also introduced the idea of pulling the goaltender for an extra attacker, the idea was seen as radical but was a prime example of his innovation.

Floyd Smith succeeded Nielson for a year, with guest appearances made by old coach, Punch Imlach  for 10 games, after self appointing himself  but due to his less than amicable reputation amongst players, his time was short-lived.