#5. Peter Horachek
The name Peter Horachek still haunts Toronto Maple Leafs Leafs fans.
He may only have coached the team for 42 games in the 2014-15 season, but those 42 games were depressing.
It was shocking that fans weren’t throwing waffles on the ice or putting bags on their heads more often at games because this stretch of hockey was a joke.
After Randy Carlyle was fired mid-way through the season, the Leafs decided to promote assistant coach Horachek for the rest of the season.
At the time this move made sense. Horachek had NHL head coaching experience with the Florida Panthers, so there was no reason to bring in an interim coach when he was already on the payroll.
When Horachek took over, the Leafs were not in a terrible situation. They had just gone through a tough 2-7 stretch, but were 21-16-3 for the season. The coaching change was seen more as a spark to uplift the team towards a playoff spot.
That didn’t happen, though.
The Horachek experience was like a horror-film. The team went from playoff contention to the 27th best team in the NHL. With Horachek behind the bench, he went 9-28-5 overall, and 1-19-3 on the road.
Yikes!
Similar to Carlyle, Leafs fans have plenty to be thankful for because of Horachek, though. His coaching abomination resulted in the Leafs drafting Mitch Marner and acquiring Mike Babcock. So, thanks for that.