Robbie Ftorek - Coaching Career

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 the team as a scout, and had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup for second time in 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.

On January 29, 2000, the Devils played a memorable game against Detroit. Particularly memorable for Ftorek was the game's officiating. In the second period, the Devils' Jay Pandolfo was involved in a collision with Detroit's Mathieu Dandenault that left Pandolfo's face bloody after a collision with the boards in the Red Wings zone. The officials allowed play to continue, only for Kirk Maltby to skate down to the other end of the rink and score a goal that gave Detroit a 3–1 lead. So irate was Ftorek over play not being stopped because of Pandolfo's injury, that Ftorek hurled the Devils' wooden bench onto the ice, resulting in Ftorek's ejection from the game, and subsequent one-game suspension.

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 – first New Jersey in 1999–2000 and then Boston in 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. Ftorek led the Otters to a 15–34–4 record over their final 53 games as the team missed the playoffs for their third consecutive season. In 2008–09, the Otters returned to the post-season as they improved to a 34–29–5 record, earning 73 points. Erie was then eliminated by the London Knights in the first round of the playoffs. The Otters made their second straight playoff appearance in 2009–10, as they had a record of 33–28–7, earning 73 points once again. Erie would then be eliminated in the first round once again, as the Windsor Spitfires swept the Otters in four games. The Otters improved their point total once again in 2010–11, winning 40 games and earning 82 points, and a third straight post-season appearance. Erie would take the two-time Memorial Cup champions Windsor Spitfires to seven games before being eliminated. The 2011-2012 campaign for Ftorek and the Erie Otters was incredibly dismal, as the Otters dealt with a rebuilding roster after losing many large stars of the previous years, ending the season with the Ontario Hockey League's third worst season by a single team in it's history at 10-52-6.

On November 29, 2012, The Erie Otters announced that they Ftorek was relieved of his head coaching duties. Kris Knoblauch, the former coach of the Kootenay Ice has been signed as Ftorek's successor.