No One Has Ever Liked Pierre McGuire

No matter the side you fall on when it comes to Cygate, if you will, there's one universal truth: No one likes Pierre McGuire.  This is a tradition that goes back decades according to this great, old article from The Hartford Currant.

Regis Pierre McGuire was once a coach in the NHL.  Really.  He was!  He started out as assistant coach and scout for the Penguins during their Cup years in 1991 and 1992 before being hired as head coach of the Hartford Whalers in 1992 and later Assistant General Manager in 1993.  From there... it didn't go so well as is explained in this article by then Hartford Currant writer Jeff Jacobs:

With one brush of his newly recovered powers Thursday, general manager Paul Holmgren did more to unify the Whalers than anybody in recent team history.

Holmgren fired coach Pierre McGuire after six months.

It was more than a great idea.

It was justice.

In 15 years of covering the NHL, we had never seen a coach so universally disrespected and disliked within his own organization.

McGuire fancied himself two parts Scotty Bowman and one part Bob Johnson. It turned out to be a superhuman leap of faith on his part. 

In a blistering post-mortem, captain Pat Verbeek called McGuire's firing the best thing that could have happened to the Whalers. He said other teams mocked their coach. He said his own teammates had no respect for McGuire. He said a number of players wouldn't have wanted to play in Hartford anymore.

Many times he privately said after a game how he outcoached the other guy. But it was something never really made public until May 3, when McGuire proclaimed that no coach in the NHL ``can outwit me.'' That quote ran in The Hockey News and raised eyebrows all over the NHL.

These are just a few select pieces of the greatness that is the take down of Pierre McGuire.  To us none of this comes as a surprise, unlike his continued employment with NBC.  The entire article is more than worth your time.

Pierre will be working the Penguins/Blue Jackets series starting Wednesday at 7:30.  If you feel so inclined to chant REGIS I don't think anyone will complain.
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