Former Jets bench boss Bob Murdoch dies at 76

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.

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.

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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.