Bravo.Īngotti admits to tanking in that documentary. He never coached in the NHL again.Īngotti had one job to do, and he did it. Angotti wasn’t “coaching not to win.” He was just coaching.Īngotti got fired after the season. If the Penguins didn’t want to finish last, they wouldn’t have hired Angotti. With all due respect to the dead, that’s a laugh. After goalie Roberto Romano had a few good starts, Angotti says Romano was sent to the minors to “weaken our team.” Angotti talks about “coaching not to win.”Īngotti presents himself as a martyr. He talks about making “a conscious decision” to lose. That Penguins season was the subject of a TSN documentary called “Playing to Lose.”Īngotti is featured. If the Penguins don’t finish last, they might be in Kansas City with no Stanley Cups instead of five. The tank job was obvious, but that’s what the system rewarded. The Penguins’ margin was close: They went 16-58-6, finishing just three points behind New Jersey. With Johnston pulling the strings as GM and a glut of rotten players, Angotti did it. When Angotti coached the Penguins in 1983-84, there was only one acceptable result: Finish dead last in the NHL, then draft Mario Lemieux. “Miracle” worker Herb Brooks had a brief tenure.Įddie Johnston was underrated and a skilled tactician.īut the Penguins’ best coach ever died Wednesday. The Penguins have had a few great coaches, not least Stanley Cup winners like Mike Sullivan, Bob Johnson and Scotty Bowman.
