2. Fred Creighton
Fred Creighton’s coaching stint is a bit different from the others on this list. Creighton was hired in July 1979, off the back of Don Cherry’s termination following the infamous game 7 ‘Too Many Men’ fiasco against the Montreal Canadiens. Cherry had been head coach of the Bruins for the last five seasons, leading them to four first-place finishes in the Adams division and two Stanley Cup Final appearances. Cherry was notoriously outspoken and popular in the locker room, Creighton had big shoes to fill.
He was gifted a fantastic team. Rick Middleton scored a team-high 92 points, which was also a career-high for him to that point. Boston’s first-round draft pick Ray Bourque debuted this season, he scored 65 points and had a +52 rating, which would stand as the highest plus/minus rating in his career. Bourque would go on to win the Calder Trophy at the end of the season. The Bruins’ goaltending duo of Gerry Cheevers & Gilles Gilbert almost won some hardware for themselves, ending the season as runner-ups for the Vezina Trophy. Creighton, however, was not with the Bruins for these end results.
Creighton and the Bruins cruised into March 1980 with a 36-17-9 record, but were unable to keep up the pace. The B’s went 4-3-4 in their first 11 games in March, which alerted President Paul Mooney and GM Harry Sinden, who felt their team was ‘floundering’ and that they had to make a change. Creighton was not a fiery coach, he was quiet, hands-off, and not one to motivate a team, players were reportedly complaining about his lack of leadership skills.
He was the complete opposite of Cherry. This coaching style did not convince Mooney and Sinden that Creighton would be able to turn the Bruins around. He was fired with 15 days remaining on the schedule, while Sinden named himself coach for the rest of the season. Creighton finished his 73-game stint with a 40-20-13 record, the fourth-best record in the NHL at the time of his firing.