Former National Hockey League coach Pat Burns has been burned by the National Hockey League in my opinion. Its been well documented the enormous struggle he has had battling cancer. Last year there was a push to see Pat Burns inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Pat Burns has coached in the N.H.L. for 14 seasons.I for one agree that he should be inducted. Let his record speak for itself.
Burns began his N.H.L. coaching career with the Montreal Canadiens in 1988. His career ended in New Jersey in 2005. He won the Stanley Cup in 2003 coaching the New Jersey Devils. He won the Jack Adams Award ( award for best coach ) in 1989 coaching Montreal, in 1993 coaching the Toronto Maple Leafs and won it for the third time in 1998 coaching the Boston Bruins. That is three times he had won this award and is the only coach in National Hockey League history to win this prestigious award three times. He took the Montreal Canadiens to the cup final. He also twice took the Leafs to semi finals which is something Cup starved Leaf fans still lament not winning but the Leafs surprised many teams during those two cup runs.
Burns was diagnosed with colon cancer and then liver cancer in 2005. Now the cancer has gone to his lungs. Watching the news, you can see that he is just a shadow of himself. There were reports last month that he had died. Leave it to Burns who called out to a local network and urged them to get the story straight. " I am alive. "
He was honoured in Stanstead ( Quebec Eastern Townships ) with a new arena named after the coach.
Last March there was a Fan based Facebook campaign launched to get him in the Hockey Hall of Fame on the merits of his coaching record. They attracted 71,000 names for support of Pat Burns. This attempt fell on deaf ears of the N.H.L. elite as Burns was not inducted into the Hall of Fame. The N.H.L. blew this one.
One day he will be inducted but it will be too late for Pat to bask in the glory.
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