Kansas City Royals: Mike Matheny should be next Royals manager

National Hockey League

In the NHL, the Blues have fired many coaches, but four of them went on to win 17 (17!) Stanley Cups after leaving St. Louis. The aforementioned Bowman accounts for more than half of those, winning nine Cups between three teams.

After getting shown the door in St. Louis, he landed with the Montreal Canadiens, a team that he led to five championships in eight seasons, including four in a row. He’d go on to win another Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins before wrapping up his Hall-of-Fame career with three more behind the bench for the Detroit Red Wings.

Back in 1970-71, after firing Bowman, the Blues replaced him with 38-year-old Al Arbour. Over three seasons in St. Louis, Arbour barely squeaked out a winning record, going 42-40-25. He’d have better success after landing with the New York Islanders. From 1973-74 through 1993-94, Arbour would lead the Islanders to four Stanley Cups, all coming consecutively in the early 1980’s.

Several coaches later, the Blues landed on former Nordiques head coach Jacques Demers. In what’s obviously becoming a theme and will continue throughout the article, Demers didn’t do much with the Blues, lasting only three seasons. After a stop with Detroit, Demers landed with the Canadiens, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 1992-93.

Just one Cup? Slacker.

Finally, there’s the most recent Blues example: Joel Quenneville. Though he never led the Blues to the promised land, Quenneville had great success in St. Louis throughout eight years. But after the Blues fired him (and a brief stint in Colorado), he landed with the Chicago Blackhawks, a squad that won three Stanley Cups in Quenneville’s 11-year reign.