A longtime NHL player and coach who won the Jack Adams Award at the helm of the first incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets has died.
Bob Murdoch, 76, served as Jets bench boss from 1989 to 1991, earning coach of the year honours in his first season with the team.
The Winnipeg Jets Hockey Club and True North Sports + Entertainment are saddened to learn of the passing of former Jets coach Bob Murdoch.
Bob was our head coach from 1989-91, and won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's coach of the year in his first year guiding our team.
Our… pic.twitter.com/IGo3ZMgbLr
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) August 4, 2023
The NHL Alumni Association is deeply saddened to learn that Bob Murdoch has passed away at the age of 76.
Bob had an illustrious @NHL career both on and off the ice. In his first three seasons playing, Bob became a 2x Stanley Cup Champion with the @CanadiensMTL in 1970-71 and… pic.twitter.com/fgA4U9Sve5
— NHL Alumni (@NHLAlumni) August 4, 2023
Prior to his coaching career, which also saw him on the staff of the Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks, Murdoch played more than 750 games as an NHL defenceman, winning two Stanley Cups as a member of the Montreal Canadiens.
In the 1974-75 season, then a member of the Los Angeles Kings, Murdoch was selected for the NHL all-star game.
According to the NHL Alumni Association, Murdoch — who also spent time as a coach in Germany’s Deutsch Eishockey Liga (DEL) — announced in 2019 that he was battling Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy Body Dementia, and Parkinsonism.
Murdoch was 76.
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