Jack McIlhargey

Jack McIlhargey
Born	(1952-03-07) March 7, 1952 Edmonton, AB, CAN
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position	Defence
Shot	Left
Played for	Philadelphia Flyers Vancouver Canucks Hartford Whalers
NHL draft	Undrafted
Playing career	1972–1982

John Cecil "Jack" McIlhargey (born March 7, 1952) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, and Hartford Whalers. He is currently a scout for the Flyers.

Playing career

His playing career spanned eight years on defence, beginning when he turned pro with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1974. He became a Canuck on January 21, 1977 when he was traded to Vancouver with Larry Goodenough in exchange for Bob Dailey. He appeared in 167 games for the Canucks (1977–80) before being dealt back to Philadelphia for cash on January 2, 1980. He completed his playing career for the Hartford Whalers after he was traded there with Norm Barnes on November 21, 1980 for Hartford’s second round choice (later traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs selected Gary Leeman) in the 1982 Entry Draft. He played in 393 career NHL games recording 11 goals, 36 assists and 1102 penalty minutes. He retired following the 1981–82 season.

Post career

McIlhargey was a key member of the Vancouver Canucks coaching staff and organization over the past 18 years and was a player between 1977 and 1980. Before being named Canucks assistant coach on June 18, 1999, McIlhargey spent eight seasons as head coach of Vancouver's top minor league affiliate in Milwaukee, Hamilton and Syracuse. He was the first head coach in the history of the Syracuse Crunch franchise. In 1999, McIlhargey was voted one of the 30 All-Time Greatest Canucks. On June 22, 2006, he was fired by new head coach Alain Vigneault from his assistant coach position with the Canucks. On September 9, it was announced that McIlhargey would being working as a pro scout for the Vancouver Canucks.

Originally hired by the club as special assistant to the general manager in the fall of 1984, McIlhargey was responsible for establishing the Canucks Alumni Association and a number of scouting assignments. He moved into coaching only three months later and spent the next seven years as an assistant coach to Harry Neale, Tom Watt, Bob McCammon and Pat Quinn.

In the summer of 1988, the Canucks sent McIlhargey and their 21-year-old goaltender prospect Troy Gamble to Russia to support a relationship that would later result in Soviet stars Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov joining the Canucks. While Gamble endured four weeks of rigorous off-season training with Dynamo Moscow and Spartak, McIlhargey got to socialize with legendary Soviet coach Anatoli Tarasov.

In 1991, McIlhargey was placed in charge of Vancouver’s minor league affiliate in Milwaukee, where he spent the 1991–92 season. He remained as head coach of Vancouver’s farm teams as they moved to Hamilton for the 1992–93 season, then finally to Syracuse from 1993 to 1999. He was fired as an assistant coach of the Flyers along with John Stevens on December 4, 2009.

External links

Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database