Al MacNeil Allister Wences MacNeil ( born September 27 , 1935 in Sydney , Nova Scotia , Canada ) is a former National Hockey League player and coach . MacNeil played two seasons with the Toronto Marlboros in 1954 - 55 and 1955 - 56 , The Marlboros won the Memorial Cup in both seasons . He played parts of eleven seasons in the National Hockey League as a rugged defenceman with the Toronto Maple Leafs , Montreal Canadiens , Chicago Black Hawks , New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins . MacNeil played 524 NHL games and scored 17 goals and 75 assists . Upon retiring as a player , MacNeil turned to coaching with the Montreal Voyageurs of the American Hockey League , top farm club of the Canadiens , for the 1969 - 70 season . After a successful debut , MacNeil became an assistant coach to Claude Ruel of the NHL Canadiens for the 1970 - 71 season . Montreal Canadiens . During that season , the Habs were stunned by the temporary retirements of left wing John Ferguson and defenceman Terry Harper and struggled for a good portion of the season , at one point in danger of missing the playoffs for a second straight year . Ruel resigned and MacNeil took the helm ; meanwhile , the club swung a major trade to net top scoring left wing Frank Mahovlich from the Detroit Red Wings . The Canadiens rallied to qualify for the playoffs as third seed in their division , then MacNeil led the team to an unexpected Stanley Cup championship . The Habs stunned the heavily favoured Boston Bruins in the opening round of the playoffs , and then defeated the Minnesota North Stars and Chicago Black Hawks , winning the latter series after having been behind 3 – 2 . Crucial to the Stanley Cup victory was MacNeil ' s decision to use rookie goaltender Ken Dryden in the playoffs despite Dryden having played only six regular - season games in 1970 – 71 . MacNeil was presumably impressed that Dryden won all these games , allowing only nine goals ( 1 . 65 GAA ) . Another crucial choice was having rookie Rejean Houle check the Black Hawks ' goalscorer Bobby Hull . Houle was nicknamed the " shadow of Bobby Hull " as Hull managed to score only one even - strength goal in the series . Unfortunately , MacNeil had a frosty relationship with most of the team ' s francophone players , most notably Henri Richard . When MacNeil benched Richard during the final series against the Black Hawks , Richard publicly criticised the coach . In game seven held at Chicago , after being down 2 – 0 for the first two periods , the Canadiens scored three goals in the third to take the series and the championship , with Richard scoring both the equalizer and game winner . MacNeil and Richard hugged at the end of the game , but that did little to patch up their differences . Richard was a highly admired and respected veteran of the team , so MacNeil was demoted to head coach of the Canadiens ' American Hockey League affiliate , the Nova Scotia Voyageurs . MacNeil won three Calder Cup Championships ( 1972 , 1976 , 1977 ) in six years with the Voyageurs . He later returned to the Canadiens winning two more Stanley Cups as Director of Player Personnel in 1978 and 1979 . Atlanta / Calgary Flames . In 1979 , MacNeil took over the Atlanta Flames , just before the team moved to Calgary . He lasted three seasons as head coach of the Calgary Flames before moving into a number of management - related capacities within the Flames organization . MacNeil won his fourth Stanley Cup in 1989 as Calgary ' s assistant general manager On December 10 , 2001 , MacNeil returned to head coaching duties after almost two decades when the Flames head coach at the time , Greg Gilbert , was suspended for a period of two games for his role in a brawl in a game with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim . When Gilbert was fired in the next season due to the Flames ' poor performance , MacNeil once again assumed interim head coaching duties before Darryl Sutter was hired . MacNeil has been involved in professional hockey for more than 50 years as a player , coach , assistant manager and director of hockey operations . Photo Gallery . Twice the team he was captain of won the playoff trophy .