Bob Pulford, a Hockey Hall of Fame player who spent three decades as an executive and coach for the Chicago Blackhawks, has died. He was 89.
A spokesperson for the NHL Alumni Association said Monday the organization learned of Pulford’s death from his family. No other details were provided.
Pulford ran the Hawks front office as general manager or senior vice president of hockey operations from 1977-2007, going behind the bench to coach four times during that span. He also had four separate stints as GM.
The NHL Alumni Association in a post memorializing Pulford called him “one of the most respected figures in the history of hockey.”
“Rest in peace, Bob,” the NHLAA said. “Your impact on hockey and on all who had the privilege of knowing you will never be forgotten.”
“Bob became a friend, counselor and confidant to me — particularly in my early years as commissioner — and I had enormous respect for him and all he gave the game,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement Monday.
A tough, dependable forward, Pulford helped the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup four times during his 14 seasons with them from 1956-70. The Newton Robinson, Ontario, native was part of the 1967 team that remains the organization’s last to win a championship.
He was picked for five All-Star games and led the league in short-handed goals three times. After recording 694 points in 1,168 regular-season and playoff games, Pulford was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991.
Off the ice, Pulford was the first president of the players union, taking part in early collective bargaining and laying the foundation for the modern NHLPA.
Pulford spent his final two playing seasons with the Los Angeles Kings before coaching them for the next five years, winning the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year in 1974-75. After feuding with owner Jack Kent Cooke over having a bigger role in player personnel decisions, Pulford left the Kings in 1977 for the Hawks, who hired him as coach and general manager.
In his four coaching stints with the Hawks (1977-79, 1981-82, 1984-87 and 1999-2000), Pulford posted a 186-179-68 record with three division titles and six playoff appearances. The 1981-82 and 1984-85 teams reached the conference finals.
Pulford was promoted from GM to senior VP in 1990 but resumed GM duties from 1992-97, in 1999-2000 and again from 2003-05. He put himself back behind the bench after firing coaches Keith Magnuson (1981-82) and Orval Tessier (1984-85) and demoting Lorne Molleken (1999-2000).
Upon relinquishing the GM role to his assistant Bob Murray in July 1997, Pulford said it was “something that’s been on my mind for quite a while.”
“I’m 62 years old,” he said. “I’ve got to step aside and let the young guys have their turn. It’s time for an old guy like me to sit back.”
Yet just 2½ years later, Pulford was back in both the GM and head coaching positions after Murray was fired and Molleken demoted to associate coach — though Molleken continued to handle daily operations of the team.
“Don’t get the idea that I’m taking away from Lorne,” Pulford said. “I’m going in to try to help Lorne and just be with him. I’ve been there. I know what a rookie coach is going through and I’m just there to offer guidance. I think I can do that on the ice and not hinder his respect with the players.
“I think (Molleken) has some question marks. I think he questions to a certain degree whether I’m going to take his position. We’ve tried very strongly to tell him that’s not the situation. He did a very good job last season and we think everything should be fine. I hope as time goes on, I am able to prove that.”
After that 1999-2000 season, the Hawks named Mike Smith GM and Alpo Suhonen head coach. Smith drafted several key pieces of the future Stanley Cup championship teams during his three-year tenure — including Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Corey Crawford — but he was fired in October 2003 and replaced by Pulford until Dale Tallon was promoted to GM in June 2005.
Pulford finally was reassigned to a non-hockey position in the Wirtz Corp. after Hawks owner Bill Wirtz died in September 2007 and was succeeded by his son Rocky Wirtz.
“Bob Pulford was a towering figure in our organization and in the National Hockey League, whose impact spans generations of the game,” Danny Wirtz, Rocky Wirtz’s son and current chairman of the Blackhawks, said in a statement Monday.
Chicago Tribune reporting contributed.