CBC asks: Who's the best NHL coach ever?

Process of elimination is the answer here.

First – eliminate people who weren’t good coaches. That's an obvious point, though it's no surprise that person is on there, considering the CBC is his fucking employer.

Second, eliminate any active coaches (because their careers are still a work in progress). Babcock is out.

Third, eliminate any coach who didn’t win a Stanley Cup. Gone are Neilson, Reay, and Quinn.

Fourth, I rule out any coaches who didn’t win at least four cups (i.e. repeated success). That leaves Irvin, Arbour, Bowman, Blake, Sather, and Imlach. Arbour, Imlach, and Sather’s success were with one team, so they are out. I would’ve eliminated Blake here, but his successes span more than ten years (plus he did win some cups as a player).

That leaves Irvin, Blake and Bowman. Irwin and Bowman both have long coaching careers, but Bowman has a better record of success, and Blake has won more cups. Since Irvin doesn’t match up to either individually, he’s out.

Finally we have Blake and Bowman. While Blake’s success is phenomenal, it was part of a dynasty, and all with one team. Bowman is really the guy who demonstrated repeated success over a long term, across many teams.

Scotty Bowman is the winner.