Members of the Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation are in mourning today following the death of Tom McVie.
McVie, 89, died on Sunday night in Portland, Ore.
McVie is one of 29 scouts who will be go into the Foundation’s Wall of Honour at its second annual induction dinner in Okotoks, Alta., on July 29.
“We lost a legend,” said Scott Bradley, a member of the Foundation’s board of directors and a longtime McVie friend and associate. “I was fortunate to have been able to work with him for most of my career.”
Bradley is in his 32nd season as part of the Boston Bruins organization and his sixth as senior advisor to the general manager. He was inducted into the Wall of Honour in 2024, as was his father, Bart, who also had a long career with the Bruins.
“My Dad worked with him . . . they had a long-time association,” Scott added. “They were in Dayton together (with the IHL’s Gems) . . . I’ve been part of Tommy’s circle for a long time.”
A native of Trail, B.C., McVie had an 18-year playing career with most of it in the old Western Hockey League where he played with the Seattle Totems, Portland Buckaroos, Los Angeles Blades and Phoenix Roadrunners. He also played in the EHL and IHL before retiring after 1973-74.
Dwight Jaynes, a long-time Portand, Ore., journalist and friend of McVie’s, wrote on Monday that “he wanted to coach but said that he was told the stories of his drinking were going to keep him out of that job pool. So he flat-out quit — never to drink again. He then set off on a coaching journey through the minor leagues, to prove that a guy who never played in the NHL could coach there.”
McVie spent the next 27 seasons as a coach.
He was the head coach of the WHA’s Winnipeg Jets when they won the Avco Cup to end the 1978-79 season. By the next season, the Jets were in the NHL. They started 1-20-7 and were on a 25-game winless skid when McVie was replaced.
“When we won the Avco Cup championship,” McVie would tell people, “there’s a bridge near the old barn that they wanted to name after me. After 15 games in the National Hockey League, they wanted to throw me off that same bridge.”
He also spent time as the head coach of three NHL teams — the Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils and Boston.
McVie didn’t get into scouting until 1998, by which time he was 63 years of age, when he joined the Bruins as a pro scout. He worked in that capacity and as a Bruins ambassador through 2019-20, getting his name on the Stanley Cup when Boston won the 2011 title.
In all, McVie was part of the Bruins organization for 37 years.
“The Bruins,” Scott Bradley said, “will miss him. He lit up a room when he was in it. There wasn’t a better story-teller or joke-teller.”
In a statement, Bruins president Cam Neely offered:
“The entire Boston Bruins organization is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Tom McVie. Tom was a huge part of our Bruins family, having served as a coach, scout and ambassador for more than 30 years. His hockey mind, colorful personality, gruff voice, and unmatched sense of humor livened up every room he entered and will be dearly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with Tom’s family and many loved ones.”
During his career, Tim Lenardon, a former scout and the Foundation’s co-ordinator, played for McVie in the AHL. Lenardon will be inducted into the Wall of Honour, along with McVie, in July.
“Tommy was a great person and a great coach,” Lenardon said. “He knew how to get the best out of everyone. He was like a second dad to me . . . hard but fair.”
Lenardon especially remembers some advice that he got from McVie: “Hey, Kid, you gotta shoot the (bleeping) puck more . . . and when you shoot hit the damn net” and “Don’t go offside for F sakes; it’s like back-checking for the other team.”
Garth Malarchuk, the Foundation’s chairman of the board, also remembers playing for McVie.
“He was a big-time competitor . . . no bullshit . . . you knew where you stood with him for sure,” Malarchuk said.
According to Jaynes, McVie was more than that, though.
“He was one of the best damn people I knew — a hilarious public speaker, loyal friend and all-around good guy to everyone he met,” Jaynes wrote. “He campaigned so hard to get his Buckaroo teammate and long-time friend Connie Madigan into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and accomplished it prior to Madigan’s death.”
Madigan and McVie were the best of friends, and both of them were legends in hockey circles. Madigan died just over a year ago — on Jan. 2, 2024. Scott Bradley said McVie was never the same after the loss of his friend.
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Among McVie’s pearls of wisdom from over the years . . .
“My late wife always used to say to me ‘you love hockey more than you love me.’ I always said ‘Yeah, but I love you more than I love baseball.’ ’’
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How long would it take for him to join a new team if offered a coaching job: “I can be out of town in 20 minutes. Thirty if I have stuff at the cleaners.”
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“Two places never to make a drop pass: At home, and on the road.”
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If I wasn’t coaching hockey,” he once told the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont, “then I’d probably be driving the Zamboni.”
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And then there was this story related to The Athletic in 2018:
“This writer, a young fellow, comes along and I’ve never seen him before. He was carrying a recorder, comes in and sticks the microphone in the face and asked, ‘Are you Tom McVie?’ Like, who doesn’t know who I am? Everyone knows who I am (laughter). So, I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Well, let me ask you something. Are you the Tom McVie that coached the Washington Capitals and they set a league record for losing games?’ I said, ‘Yes. I’m Tom McVie.’ He said, ‘Are you the Tom McVie that coached the Winnipeg Jets and you broke that losing record? Now, you’re coaching the New Jersey Devils and you’re in danger of setting a new losing record?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’
“He said, ‘Did you ever think of quitting?’ And I said, ‘F–k, no. This is the only thing I’m really good at.’ ”
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Tom McVie . . . hockey lifer . . . Wall of Honour inductee . . . dead at 89.
TAKING NOTE 