He became head coach of the Washington Capitals – who visit Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday night – on Dec. 31, 1975, in the franchise’s second season, taking over from Milt Schmidt.
The Caps that season finished just 11-59-10 and endured a 25-game winless streak. After Washington fired McVie in 1979, he led the Winnipeg Jets to that year’s World Hockey Association title and stayed on as head coach for their inaugural two NHL campaigns.
The second of those seasons for the Jets saw McVie fired midway through after enduring the second 25-game winless streak of his career – both of those losing stretches serving as self-deprecating punchlines for the humor he’d keep employing and perfecting in decades to come.
“I’ve been fired more times than General Custer’s pistol at Little Big Horn,” he once quipped.
McVie later became the second New Jersey Devils coach, replacing Bill MacMillan in 1983-84, then had a second stint behind their bench late in 1990-91 taking over for John Cunniff.
When fired again, he trotted out his old joke about himself with a slight modification.
“I’ve been fired more times than Clint Eastwood’s Magnum.”
Along the way, McVie spent most of the 1980s and 1990s coaching in the AHL, racking up 328 wins to sit top-20 in league history.
McVie also got his name on the Stanley Cup in 2011 while serving as an ambassador for the Boston Bruins, an organization he joined in 1992-93 as an assistant to head coach Brian Sutter and remained within scouting and other capacities until his death.
“Tom was a huge part of our Bruins family, having served as coach, scout, and ambassador for more than 30 years,” Bruins president Cam Neely said Monday in a statement. “His hockey mind, colorful personality, gruff voice, and unmatched sense of humor livened up every room he entered, and he will be dearly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with Tom’s family and many loved ones.”
But McVie also became a colorful and important figure in the history of pro hockey in the Pacific Northwest. His initial exploits with the Totems were short-lived, but hugely important in helping secure their first WHL championship with a series win over the Calgary Stampeders.
Seattle and coach Keith Allen – who’d later serve as general manager of the NHL “Broad Street Bullies” Philadelphia Flyers Cup-winning teams – finished second behind Calgary in the regular season, led by Fielder’s career-high 122 points. But McVie’s penchant for scoring in the clutch proved just as valuable ahead of and during a stunning 4-0 sweep of Calgary in the final.
“They had a really good team and they were picked to win the championship going away,’’ McVie said in a 2018 interview about his Totems playing days as Seattle awaited the awarding of the expansion Kraken team. “But wouldn’t you know, we beat them four straight.’’
And though McVie’s exploits were instrumental in the Totems’ title run that season, he admittedly had ample help.
“I told everybody it was because I had the good fortune of playing next to Fielder,’’ he said. “Even I couldn’t mess that one up.’’
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