Longtime NHL coach Alain Vigneault announces retirement

“I think it’s time to enjoy life,” Vigneault said. “I had a great career. Hockey has been good for me and my family.”

Vigneault left his fourth and most recent coaching stop when the Philadelphia Flyers dismissed him in December 2021. 

Though the wheels fell off for Vigneault in Philadelphia after a wretched 2020-21 season and a poor start to 2021-22, he had moments with the Orange and Black. In 2019-20, ‘AV’ finished first runner-up for the Jack Adams Award and led the Flyers to the Eastern Conference’s top seed after the abridged regular season.

Before his mixed returns in Philadelphia, Vigneault, who played 42 NHL games for the St. Louis Blues as a defenseman, became a beloved figure at the helm of the Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers.

After debuting as an NHL coach for a poor Montreal Canadiens team from 1997 until 2000, Vigneault would take over the Canucks and become the team’s winningest coach.

Vignealt’s Canucks, led by the Sedin brothers, scrappy defenseman Kevin Bieksa and goaltender Roberto Luongo, rode a combination of skill and defensive responsibility to the postseason in six of Vigneault’s seven seasons in British Columbia. In 2011 they took the Boston Bruins to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

After consecutive playoff disappointments led to Vigneault’s firing in Vancouver, he was out of work for less than a month before heading to Madison Square Garden to coach the Rangers in 2013.

He was no less successful there, as a balanced roster led by Rick Nash on offense, Ryan McDonagh on defense and Henrik Lundqvist in goal won the Eastern Conference and President’s Trophy in consecutive seasons. In 2014, New York fell to the Los Angeles Kings in Vigneault’s second Stanley Cup Final in four years.

Though Vigneault never won the big one and will likely be surpassed by Mike Babcock and John Tortorella in wins during the 2023-24 season, 722 wins, a 2007 Jack Adams Award and a pair of Conference Final victories make him one of the most successful coaches of the 21st century.