Craig MacTavish

He finished his tenure with the Oilers at 36th on the all-time NHL list with 301 wins, and second on the Oilers' all-time wins list behind only Sather.

Craig MacTavish (born August 15, 1958) is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player, formerly an assistant coaching position with the St. Louis Blues.

MacTavish was born on August 15, 1958, in London, Ontario.

MacTavish played two years of NCAA hockey with the University of Lowell Chiefs (now University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks) from 1977 to 1979.

He was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the 1978 NHL Entry Draft with their ninth pick, 153rd overall, and spent the next several years splitting time between the Bruins and various American Hockey League teams.

During his early days with the Bruins, the young MacTavish was involved in the infamous brawl between several Boston players and a group of New York Rangers fans in 1979.

He was the last helmetless player, having signed a professional contract with the Bruins before the mandatory cutoff date in 1979 (then-current players were allowed to remain bare-headed under a grandfather clause); incidentally, MacTavish had worn a helmet in his earliest days as he can be seen wearing one during the aforementioned fight with Rangers fans in 1979.

MacTavish turned to coaching immediately after retiring as a player, signing on as an assistant with the Rangers.

He finally made the Bruins for good in 1982–83 and played two full seasons with them.

MacTavish missed the 1984–85 season after being convicted of vehicular homicide, having struck and killed a young woman while he was driving under the influence of alcohol.

MacTavish pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol the night of January 25, 1984, in Peabody, Massachusetts.

Kim Radley, 26, of West Newfield, Maine, died four days later of injuries sustained in the crash.

MacTavish was sentenced to a year's imprisonment for the offence.

While incarcerated, he watched most of the games that were televised.

Widely viewed, at the time, as a personal favour from Edmonton general manager Glen Sather to his best friend, then-Bruins general manager Harry Sinden (who felt that MacTavish ought to have a fresh start away from Boston and had offered to let him out of his contract, which MacTavish had accepted), the Oilers took a chance on MacTavish and signed him for the 1985–86 season.

He played centre for 17 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues, winning the Stanley Cup four times (1987, 1988, 1990, 1994).

He was the last NHL player not to wear a helmet during games.

Sather's intuition turned out to be good, as MacTavish spent eight full seasons with the Oilers, helping them to win three Stanley Cups in 1987, 1988, 1990 and serving as team captain from 1992 to 1994.

Along the way the Oilers defeated the San Jose Sharks in six games and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in five games to advance to their first Stanley Cup since their championship season of 1990.

However, the Oilers could not complete their run, losing a thrilling seven-game final series to the Carolina Hurricanes after nearly rallying from a 3–1 series deficit to force a Game 7.

As it would turn out, this was the only season in MacTavish's tenure where the Oilers won a postseason series.

MacTavish was traded to the New York Rangers in 1994, just in time to help several other former Oilers (including Kevin Lowe, Glenn Anderson, Adam Graves, Jeff Beukeboom, Esa Tikkanen and Mark Messier) win the Stanley Cup.

The next season MacTavish signed with the Philadelphia Flyers as a free agent, and was traded to the St. Louis Blues during the 1995–96 season.

MacTavish retired following the 1996–97 season.

After retiring as NHL player in 1997, MacTavish was accepted as an MBA student at the University of Alberta.

He didn't start the program, following the decision to take a coaching position with the New York Rangers.

This proved effective; the eighth-seeded Oilers won the opening round in six games, against the no. 1 seed, the Detroit Red Wings for their postseason victory since 1997.

After two seasons in New York, he returned to the Oilers as an assistant coach in the 1999–2000 season under former teammate Kevin Lowe.

He was subsequently promoted to the top job when Lowe succeeded Sather as general manager.

MacTavish later coached the Oilers from 2000 to 2009 and also served as assistant coach with the Rangers and Oilers.

In the 2005–06 season, MacTavish led the Oilers on their run to the Stanley Cup Finals.

In the first round of the playoffs, MacTavish shocked the hockey world by utilizing a trapping defensive system to neutralize a potent Detroit Red Wings offence.

The Oilers were able to deny scoring chances by blocking shots with their bodies—something for which MacTavish was known for during his playing career.

On November 4, 2006, one day after the Oilers lost to the Dallas Stars due to an apparent blown call in the last five seconds of the third period by referee Mick McGeough, MacTavish was fined $10,000 for expressing his anger after the game, referring to the call as "retarded".

After this incident, Oilers fans collected over $10,000 and gave it to MacTavish, who subsequently donated the money to charity.

On April 15, 2009, Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini announced that MacTavish had been relieved of his duties as head coach of the club.

The Oilers had failed to reach the playoffs for the third year in a row.

In 2011, he obtained an EMBA from Queen's School of Business.

He last coached Team Canada at the 2019 Spengler Cup, after a short stint with Russian team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL.

He served as an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues from 2022 to 2023.