Robert Jesse Pulford (born March 31, 1936) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings in the National Hockey League. He later served as head coach of the Kings before spending 30 years with the Chicago Blackhawks as a coach and general manager.

Bob Pulford
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1991
Pulford with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1960s
Born (1936-03-31) March 31, 1936 (age 88)
Newton Robinson, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 188 lb (85 kg; 13 st 6 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shot Left
Played for Toronto Maple Leafs
Los Angeles Kings
Playing career 1956–1972

Early life

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Pulford and his family lived on King St. in Weston, Ontario from 1940 to 1950, and he attended Memorial School before the family moved to rural Ontario.

Pulford played junior hockey in Weston, then senior hockey for the Marlboros.

Playing career

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Pulford played junior hockey for the Toronto Marlboros for three seasons from 1953 to 1956, winning two Memorial Cups under coach Turk Broda. He moved up to the Maple Leafs for the 1956–57 season and remained with the team for 14 seasons wearing jersey number 20. Pulford was an important member of the Leaf teams that won four Stanley Cups in 1962–1964 and 1967.

With the series tied 1–1, Pulford scored the overtime game-winner in game 3 of the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals against the Montreal Canadiens. The Montreal goalie was Rogie Vachon. Pulford later coached Vachon in Los Angeles as the Kings rose to prominence in the mid-1970s.

The Leafs traded him to the Los Angeles Kings on September 3, 1970, where he played two seasons and retired as a player in 1972.

In 1967 Pulford was elected the first president of the National Hockey League Players' Association.

Coaching career

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Immediately after retiring as a player, Pulford became head coach of the Kings for the 1972–73 season and led the team for five years before becoming coach and general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1977. As coach of the Kings, he helped Los Angeles go from being one of the worst defensive and penalty-killing teams in the NHL to one of the best. He guided the Kings to their first playoff appearance in five years in 1974 and won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in the NHL in 1975. That season, the Kings amassed 105 points, still a club record through 2013. He also led the Kings to their first playoff series wins since 1969 when they defeated the Atlanta Flames in the first round of both the 1976 and 1977 NHL playoffs. Pulford left the Kings after the 1976–77 season after constant feuding with then owner Jack Kent Cooke. Pulford wanted to become General Manager as well as coach, or at least have a bigger role in player personnel decisions. Cooke however, often meddled in player personnel matters, and in the mid-1970s, reverted to his old habits of trading promising young players and draft picks for veterans, past their prime former stars.

He served as coach for the Blackhawks on three separate occasions from 1977 to 1987. He was promoted to senior vice president in 1990, but took on the general manager's duties again from 1992 to 1997, from 1999 to 2000, and from 2003 to 2005. During his third stint as general manager, Pulford nominally doubled as head coach, demoting Lorne Molleken to an assistant. However, Molleken remained the team's main operator on the bench, with Pulford as more or less a senior consultant.

In seven seasons and 426 games as Hawks coach over three stints, Pulford won 182, lost 176, and tied 68. At the time he left the bench for good, only Billy Reay had won more regular season games for the Hawks. Pulford is now third, behind Reay and Joel Quenneville for most regular season games won as Hawk coach.

He won the Jack Adams Award for the best coach in the NHL in 1975. Pulford was also honoured to be named head coach of Team USA during the 1976 Canada Cup tournament.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991.

On October 11, 2007, Pulford was named an officer with the Wirtz Corporation, parent company of the Blackhawks, and is no longer part of the day-to-day management of the Blackhawks.

His son-in-law is Dean Lombardi, a former assistant general manager for the Minnesota North Stars, GM of the San Jose Sharks, and president and general manager of the Los Angeles Kings. He is currently a senior advisor in the Philadelphia Flyers organization.

In 2012, Pulford was honoured by the Kings in a pregame ceremony; the team wore their purple and gold 1970s throwback uniforms in the game following this ceremony.

Career statistics

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    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1953–54 Weston Dukes MetJHL
1953–54 Toronto Marlboros OHA-Jr. 17 5 9 14 12 15 4 7 11 12
1954–55 Toronto Marlboros OHA-Jr. 47 24 22 46 43 13 7 10 17 29
1954–55 Toronto Marlboros M-Cup 11 5 4 9 15
1955–56 Toronto Marlboros OHA-Jr. 48 30 25 55 87 11 16 8 24 2
1955–56 Toronto Marlboros M-Cup 13 13 8 21 16
1956–57 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 65 11 11 22 32
1957–58 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 14 17 31 48
1958–59 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 23 14 37 53 12 4 4 8 8
1959–60 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 24 28 52 81 10 4 1 5 10
1960–61 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 40 11 18 29 41 5 0 0 0 8
1961–62 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 18 21 39 98 12 7 1 8 24
1962–63 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 19 25 44 49 10 2 5 7 14
1963–64 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 18 30 48 73 14 5 3 8 20
1964–65 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 65 19 29 39 46 6 1 1 2 16
1965–66 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 28 28 56 51 4 1 1 2 12
1966–67 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 67 17 28 45 28 12 1 10 11 12
1967–68 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 74 20 30 50 40
1968–69 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 71 11 23 34 20 4 0 0 0 2
1969–70 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 74 18 19 37 31
1970–71 Los Angeles Kings NHL 59 17 26 43 53
1971–72 Los Angeles Kings NHL 73 13 24 37 48
NHL totals 1,079 281 362 643 792 89 25 26 51 126

Coaching record

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Team Year Regular season Post season
G W L T Pts Division rank Result
LA 1972–73 78 31 36 11 73 6th in West Missed playoffs
LA 1973–74 78 33 33 12 78 3rd in West Lost in quarter-finals (1-4 vs. CHI)
LA 1974–75 80 42 17 21 105 2nd in Norris Lost in preliminary round (1-2 vs. TOR)
LA 1975–76 80 38 33 9 85 2nd in Norris Won in preliminary round (2-0 vs. ATL)
Lost in quarter-finals (3-4 vs. BOS)
LA 1976–77 80 34 31 15 83 2nd in Norris Won in preliminary round (2-1 vs. ATL)
Lost in quarter-finals (2-4 vs. BOS)
CHI 1977–78 80 32 29 19 83 1st in Smythe Lost in quarter-finals (0-4 vs. BOS)
CHI 1978–79 80 29 36 15 73 1st in Smythe Lost in quarter-finals (0-4 vs. NYI)
CHI 1981–82 28 12 14 2 (72) 4th in Norris Won in division semi-finals (3-1 vs. MIN)
Won in division finals (4-2 vs. STL)
Lost in conference finals (1-4 vs. VAN)
CHI 1984–85 27 16 7 4 (83) 2nd in Norris Won in division semi-finals (3-0 vs. DET)
Won in division finals (4-2 vs. MIN)
Lost in conference finals (2-4 vs. EDM)
CHI 1985–86 80 39 33 8 86 1st in Norris Lost in division semi-finals (0-3 vs. TOR)
CHI 1986–87 80 29 37 14 72 3rd in Norris Lost in division semi-finals (0-4 vs. DET)
CHI 1999–2000 58 28 24 6 62 3rd in Central Missed playoffs
Total 829 363 330 136 862 3 Division Titles 27-43 (.386)

See also

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Sporting positions
Preceded by NHLPA President
1967–72
Succeeded by
Preceded by Los Angeles Kings captain
197173
Succeeded by
Preceded by Head coach of the Los Angeles Kings
197277
Succeeded by
Preceded by Head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks
197779
Succeeded by
Preceded by Head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks
1981–82
Succeeded by
Preceded by Head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks/Blackhawks
198487
Succeeded by
Preceded by Head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks
1999–2000
Succeeded by
Preceded by General manager of the Chicago Black Hawks/Blackhawks
1977–90
1992–97
1999–2000
2003–05
Succeeded by
Mike Keenan
Bob Murray
Mike Smith
Dale Tallon