Robbie Ftorek 4890456 221138199 2008-06-23T05:35:15Z Nurmsook 291079 /* External links */ cat+ '''Robert Brian Ftorek''' (born [[January 2]], [[1952]] in [[Needham, Massachusetts]]) is a former [[National Hockey League|NHL]] player and coach. He was enshrined as member of the [[United States Hockey Hall of Fame]] in 1991. Ftorek is currently the head coach of the [[Erie Otters]] of the [[Ontario Hockey League]]. ==Playing career== As a player, he was a member of the [[1972]] [[United States national men's ice hockey team|United States Olympic Hockey team]] that surprisingly won the silver medal at the [[1972 Winter Olympics]]. Ftorek also played for Team USA at the 1972 "Pool B" [[Ice Hockey World Championship]] where he was selected to the tournament all-star team. Originally drafted by the [[Hartford Whalers|New England Whalers]] of the [[World Hockey Association]] in [[1972]], he instead signed with the NHL's [[Detroit Red Wings]]. However, the Red Wings regarded Ftorek as too small to make it as a professional and he only appeared in a handful of NHL games. Having spent most of his time in the minors with the [[American Hockey League|AHL]]'s [[Virginia Wings]], Ftorek decided to move over to the WHA in [[1974]], and it was at this time the Whalers traded his WHA rights to the [[Phoenix Roadrunners (WHA)|Phoenix Roadrunners]]. Ftorek quickly became the Roadrunners' biggest star and he made history in 1977 when he won the [[Gordie Howe Trophy]] as the league's most valuable player -- the first American ice hockey player in major professional hockey to accomplish this feat. Ftorek confirmed his status as the most accomplished American player of the 1970s in the inaugural [[1976 Canada Cup]] where he was elected MVP of Team USA and also was the US team's leading scorer. After playing parts of three seasons in Phoenix and when the Roadrunners franchise folded, Ftorek signed with the [[Cincinnati Stingers]]. After the WHA folded following the 1978–79 season, he signed with the [[Quebec Nordiques]] of the NHL and served as the team's captain in 1981. Ftorek played for Team USA at the [[1981 Canada Cup]] tournament. He was traded to the [[New York Rangers]] during the [[1981–82 NHL season]], where he played through the [[1984–85 NHL season]] and finished his NHL career. He played several seasons with the [[New Haven Nighthawks]] before retiring from professional play. Ftorek completed his NHL career with 77 goals, 150 assists, 227 points, and 262 penalty minutes in 334 games. In his WHA career, Ftorek tallied 216 goals, 307 assists, 523 points, and 365 penalty minutes in 373 games, making him 6th on the WHA's all-time points list, and 9th in both the WHA's all-time career goal and assist leaders. His other WHA accomplishments include participating in the 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979 WHA All-Star games as well as making the All-WHA 1st team in 1977, 1979 and the All-WHA 2nd team in 1976 and 1978. ==Coaching career== He began his professional coaching career with the AHL's New Haven Nighthawks in 1985. He remained with then until the 1987–88 season when he moved up to the NHL as the [[Los Angeles Kings]] head coach until 1989. Following this, Ftorek was an assistant coach for the Quebec Nordiques and [[New Jersey Devils]] in the NHL. In 1992, he was named head coach of the AHL's [[Utica Devils]] and remained as head coach when the team became the [[Albany River Rats]]. In 1995, the same year the River Rats' parent club, the New Jersey Devils, won the [[Stanley Cup]], Ftorek led the River Rats to the [[Calder Cup]] in the AHL. In 1996, Ftorek began his second stint as a New Jersey Devils assistant coach, then took the head coach's position in 1998. In 2000, he led the Devils back into the playoffs but was fired by Lamoriello with 9 games remaining in the regular season. Assistant coach [[Larry Robinson]] replaced him and the Devils went on to win their 2nd Stanley Cup. Ftorek remained with team as a scout, and had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup for second time in [[1999–2000 NHL season|2000]]. Ftorek joined the [[Boston Bruins]] as head coach in 2001. However, after two years of poor efforts by his teams, Ftorek was fired late in the 2002–03 season with only 9 games remaining in the season. Bruins GM [[Mike O'Connell]] took over as coach for the rest of the season. In 2003, Ftorek rejoined the Devils as head coach of their AHL affiliate in Albany. The team moved to Lowell, Massachusetts to become the [[Lowell Devils]]. Devs CEO/President/GM [[Lou Lamoriello]] stated that Ftorek would not be retained as head coach of the team. In January 2000, the Devils played a memorable game against Detroit. Particularly memorable for Ftorek was the game's officiating. Indeed, Ftorek was so irate over one call that he threw the team's bench onto the ice surface. He was suspended for one game. Ftorek holds the dubious distinction of being the only coach to be sacked by two different teams in the final days of what was a winning regular season for that team &mdash; first [[New Jersey]] in [[1999–2000 NHL season|1999–2000]] and then [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] in [[2002–03 NHL season|2002–03]]. His record was 41–20–8–5 with the Devils and 33–28–8–4 with the Bruins. In October 2007, Ftorek was hired as the head coach of the [[Erie Otters]] of the [[Ontario Hockey League]], replacing [[Peter Sidorkiewicz]]. Year 2008. - R. Ftorek is one of the main candidates of becoming a head coach of "Dinamo Riga" (A successor of soviet "[[Riga Dinamo]]" team) (Latvia) team in new hockey project - The [[Continental hockey league]] ==Coaching record== {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;" |- ! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="7"|Regular Season !! colspan="1"|Post Season |- ! G !! W !! L !! T !! OTL !! Pts !!Finish !! Result |- ![[New Haven Nighthawks|NHN]]||[[1985–86 AHL season|1985–86]] |80||36||37||7||-||79||4<SUP>th</SUP> in South||Lost in First Round |- ![[New Haven Nighthawks|NHN]]||[[1986–87 AHL season|1986–87]] |80||44||25||-||11||99||3<SUP>rd</SUP> in South||Lost in First Round |- ![[New Haven Nighthawks|NHN]]||[[1987–88 AHL season|1987–88]] |27||16||8||3||-||(76)||5<SUP>th</SUP> in North||(Promoted) |- ![[Los Angeles Kings|LA]]||[[1987–88 NHL season|1987–88]] |52||23||25||4||-||(68)||4<SUP>th</SUP> in Smythe||Lost in First Round |- ![[Los Angeles Kings|LA]]||[[1988–89 NHL season|1988–89]] |80||42||31||7||-||91||2<SUP>nd</SUP> in Smythe||Lost in Second Round |- ![[Halifax Citadels|HAL]]||[[1989–90 AHL season|1989–90]] |48||25||19||4||-||(80)||4<SUP>th</SUP> in North||(Promoted) |- ![[Utica Devils|UTI]]||[[1992–93 AHL season|1992–93]] |80||33||36||11||-||77||3<SUP>rd</SUP> in South||Lost in First Round |- ![[Albany River Rats|ALB]]||[[1993–94 AHL season|1993–94]] |80||38||34||8||-||84||3<SUP>rd</SUP> in North||Lost in First Round |- ![[Albany River Rats|ALB]]||[[1994–95 AHL season|1994–95]] |80||46||17||17||-||109||1<SUP>st</SUP> in North||'''Won [[Calder Cup]]''' |- ![[Albany River Rats|ALB]]||[[1995–96 AHL season|1995–96]] |80||54||19||7||-||115||1<SUP>st</SUP> in North||Lost in First Round |- ![[New Jersey Devils|NJ]]||[[1998–99 NHL season|1998–99]] |82||47||24||11||-||105||1<SUP>st</SUP> in Atlantic||Lost in First Round |- ![[New Jersey Devils|NJ]]||[[1999–00 NHL season|1999–00]] |74||41||20||8||5||(103)||2<SUP>nd</SUP> in Atlantic||(Fired) |- ![[Boston Bruins|BOS]]||[[2001–02 NHL season|2001–02]] |82||43||24||6||9||101||1<SUP>st</SUP> in Northeast||Lost in First Round |- ![[Boston Bruins|BOS]]||[[2002–03 NHL season|2002–03]] |73||33||28||8||4||(87)||3<SUP>rd</SUP> in Northeast||(Fired) |- ![[Albany River Rats|ALB]]||[[2003–04 AHL season|2003–04]] |28||7||15||3||3||(62)||7<SUP>th</SUP> in East||Missed Playoffs |- ![[Albany River Rats|ALB]]||[[2004–05 AHL season|2004–05]] |80||29||38||6||7||71||7<SUP>th</SUP> in East||Missed Playoffs |- ![[Albany River Rats|ALB]]||[[2005–06 AHL season|2005–06]] |80||25||48||-||7||57||7<SUP>th</SUP> in Atlantic||Missed Playoffs |- ![[Erie Otters|ERI]]||[[2007–08 OHL season|2007–08]] |53||15||34||-||4||(40)||5<SUP>th</SUP> in Midwest||Missed Playoffs |} ==See also== [[List of NHL head coaches]] ==External links== *{{legendsofhockey|12658}} *{{hockeydb|1793}} {{start box}} {{succession box | before = [[Marc Tardif]] | title = [[Quebec Nordiques#Team captains|Quebec Nordiques captains]] | years = [[1981–82 NHL season|1981]] | after = [[Andre Dupont]]}} {{end box}} {{start box}} {{succession box | before = [[Rogie Vachon]] | title = [[Head Coaches of the Los Angeles Kings]] | years = 1988&mdash;1989 | after = [[Tom Webster]] }} {{succession box | before = [[Jacques Lemaire]] | title = [[List of New Jersey Devils head coaches|Head Coaches of the New Jersey Devils]] | years = 1998&mdash;2000 | after = [[Larry Robinson]] }} {{succession box | before = [[Mike Keenan]] | title = [[Head Coaches of the Boston Bruins]] | years = 2001&mdash;2003 | after = [[Mike O'Connell]] }} {{end box}} {{KingsCoach}} {{DevilsCoach}} {{BruinsCoach}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ftorek, Robbie}} [[Category:1952 births]] [[Category:Albany River Rats coaches]] [[Category:American ice hockey coaches]] [[Category:American ice hockey players]] [[Category:Boston Bruins coaches]] [[Category:Cincinnati Stingers players]] [[Category:Detroit Red Wings players]] [[Category:Erie Otters coaches]] [[Category:Los Angeles Kings coaches]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:New Haven Nighthawks players]] [[Category:New York Rangers players]] [[Category:New Jersey Devils coaches]] [[Category:Olympic ice hockey players of the United States|Ftorek, Robbie]] [[Category:People from Norfolk County, Massachusetts]] [[Category:Phoenix Roadrunners (WHA) players]] [[Category:Tulsa Oilers (1964–1984) players]] [[Category:United States Hockey Hall of Fame]] [[Category:Virginia Wings players]] [[de:Robbie Ftorek]] [[fr:Robbie Ftorek]] [[it:Robbie Ftorek]]