Al MacNeil, Longtime Flames Executive, Cup Champion And AHL Hall Of Famer, Dies At 89

Al MacNeil, a Stanley Cup champion, former NHL player and member of the Calgary Flames for 22 years as a coach and executive, died at the age of 89 on Sunday.

The Flames and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman provided statements, offering their condolences to MacNeil’s family and mourning this loss.

“Al was a great man who will be dearly missed by our organization,” Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation chairman Murray Edwards said in a statement. “We send our heartfelt condolences to his wife Norma, son Allister, daughter Allison, son-in-law Paul Sparkes and grandsons Jack and Ben.”

MacNeil’s career in the NHL lasted nearly half a century as a player and a member of staff. It started in 1956 when he played his first NHL game with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He went on to play for the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks, New York Rangers and lastly the Pittsburgh Penguins. The defenseman played 524 NHL games, scoring 17 goals and 92 points. MacNeil also recorded over 600 penalty minutes.

In the final two seasons of his professional hockey career, he served as a player-coach for the Houston Apollos of the CHL and the AHL’s Montreal Voyageurs.

MacNeil then transitioned into an assistant coach before becoming a coach in the middle of the 1970-71 season with the Canadiens. Later that season, he led the Habs to their 16th Stanley Cup, which Bettman referred to as one of Montreal’s most unexpected of its 24 Cups.

After that season, MacNeil became a full-time coach in the AHL. For six seasons, he was the coach of his home province team, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs. He was AHL coach of the year twice and a Calder Cup champion three times with the Voyageurs, coaching players such as Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey, Steve Shutt and Guy Lapointe.

Following his stint in Nova Scotia, he never looked back from the NHL, including 22 seasons with the Flames organization. He was the head coach of the Atlanta Flames in 1979-80. This was the last season before the franchise moved to Calgary.

He coached the team for three seasons before becoming the team’s assistant GM for the 1985-86 campaign. He held that role for 19 seasons while filling in behind the bench whenever necessary.

“The hockey world lost an icon today with the passing of Al MacNeil,” said Flames president of hockey operations Don Maloney in a statement. “ ‘Chopper’ was a Stanley Cup champion and a Calder Cup champion, but most importantly he was our friend and mentor. We will sincerely miss his company and our conversations.”

MacNeil won three Stanley Cups with the Canadiens and added another with the Calgary Flames in 1989. He also won the Canada Cup as an assistant coach in 1976. The AHL inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2013-14.