Scotty Bowman William Scott " Scotty " Bowman ( born September 18 , 1933 in Montreal , Quebec , Canada ) is a former National Hockey League head coach . He is the winningest coach in league history , with 1 , 244 wins in the regular season and 223 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs . He has coached the St . Louis Blues , Montreal Canadiens , Buffalo Sabres , Pittsburgh Penguins , and Detroit Red Wings . As head coach , Bowman has won a record nine Stanley Cup s with the Canadiens ( 1973 , 1976 , 1977 , 1978 , and 1979 ) , Penguins ( 1992 ) and Red Wings ( 1997 , 1998 , and 2002 ) . He was also part of the 1991 Penguins Stanley Cup winning team as director of player development . He won the Jack Adams Award in 1977 and 1996 . In the 1976 - 77 season he won a record 60 games and broke his own record with 62 wins in 1995 - 96 . No other head coach in the history of the NHL , Major League Baseball , the National Football League , or the National Basketball Association has won championships with three different teams . Early years . Bowman played minor league hockey until a head injury ended his playing career . He started coaching with the Ottawa Junior Canadiens , an independent ( non - league ) team in 1956 . Two years later , the team coached by Bowman and managed by Sam Pollock won the Memorial Cup in 1958 . Soon thereafter , he moved into a coaching job with the Peterborough Petes of the OHA , the Montreal Canadiens ' junior farm team . Bowman moved into the NHL in 1967 when he joined the expansion St . Louis Blues as assistant coach to Lynn Patrick . However , Patrick resigned after a slow start , and Bowman became coach at age 34 . The Blues caught fire , and made it to the Stanley Cup finals in their first three years of existence . Bowman coached in St . Louis until the end of the 1970 - 71 season ( his first NHL season with a losing record ) , but left after team owner Sid Salomon reneged on a promise to make him general manager as well . Bowman then joined the Montreal Canadiens as head coach . His team lost in the first round of the playoffs in 1972 but won the Stanley Cup in 1973 . The Canadiens would make the playoffs over the next two seasons but bow out in the first and third rounds , respectively as the rival Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup . From 1976 to 1979 , Bowman won four consecutive Stanley Cups with a talented Canadiens squad that included Guy Lafleur , Steve Shutt , Larry Robinson and Ken Dryden . Bowman ' s team won at least 45 games in each of his eight seasons . However , when the Canadiens refused to make him general manager as well as coach , Bowman left the team . He is still the second - winningest coach in Canadiens history . The 1980s . For the 1979 - 80 season , he moved to the Buffalo Sabres as coach and general manager . He served as the team ' s general manager until 1987 , doubling as coach on three separate occasions . During this time , he missed the playoffs for the only time in his career , in the 1985 - 86 season . Bowman joined the Sabres around the same time that their stars were growing old . After failing to turn the Sabres into a winner , he quit hockey temporarily in 1987 to become an analyst for the CBC ' s " Hockey Night in Canada " . He became the Director of Player Personnel of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1990 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991 as a builder . The 1990s . After the death of Bob Johnson , who had just won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins the previous season , Bowman took over as coach . Under Bowman , the Penguins repeated as Stanley Cup champions in a season dedicated to Johnson . The next season , the Penguins had their first 100 - point season in franchise history , and finished with the league ' s best record . Their 119 points is still a franchise record . In the playoffs , the Penguins were upended in the Patrick Division finals by the New York Islanders . In 1993 - 94 , Bowman then became coach of the Red Wings , and led them to a first - place finish in the Western Conference , but his Red Wings were ousted in the first round by the young San Jose Sharks . In 1995 , the Red Wings made it to the Stanley Cup Finals but were swept by the New Jersey Devils in four straight . This was the Red Wings ' first appearance in the finals in 29 years . In the 1995 - 96 regular season , he won a record 62 games . However , they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals . In the 1997 playoffs , Bowman led the team to its first Stanley Cup in 42 years by sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers 4 - 0 . The Red Wings repeated the feat the following season by sweeping the Washington Capitals . In 1999 , they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Semi - Finals . The 2000s and Retirement . Bowman decided in February 2002 that he would retire at the end of the season and he went out as a winner as his Red Wings won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 4 games to 1 . It was after the presentation of the Cup on the ice that Bowman publicly announced his retirement from coaching . He is the second - winningest coach in Red Wings history , behind only Jack Adams and is also the second - winningest coach in Sabres history , behind Lindy Ruff . His brother , Jack , was a longtime scout for the Buffalo Sabres , his nephew , Steve Bowman , is a scout for the Washington Capitals , and his son , Stan , is the director of player personnel of the Chicago Blackhawks . Bowman currently lives in East Amherst , New York . Bowman remains with Detroit as a senior adviser to the team ' s management , and also occasionally made appearances on ESPN as a pre - game analyst . In 2003 Bowman was inducted into Canada ' s Walk of Fame . On August 3 , 2007 , it was reported that Bowman was offered the position of President of the Toronto Maple Leafs . However , Bowman quickly denied the report in an e - mail to TSN stating " I have not received an offer from the Leafs , and I don ' t expect one either . " 1948 Midget . In 1947 - 48 , Bowman played on the Quebec midget champion Verdun Spartons . He is the player on the left in the front row :