I just can not believe that he passed away, the Detroits Red Wings head coach…
Former Detroit Red Wings coach Wayne Maxner, who guided the team for parts of two seasons in the early 1980s before Mike Ilitch bought the club in 1982, died on Thursday at age 80 in Clinton, Ontario.
Maxner coached the Red Wings from 1980-1982 with a total record of 34-68-26 in 129 games, a winning percentage of .368. His winning percentage and wins during the team’s pre-Stanley Cup championship years ranks 15th among Detroit coaches with at least 100 regular-season games behind the bench.
After only 20 games as coach of Detroit’s AHL farm team in Adirondack in 1980, Maxner relieved Red Wings coach Ted Lindsay on Nov. 25, 1980 and led the team to a record of 16-29-15 for 47 points in 60 games. He was fired on March 8, 1982 after recording a record of 18-39-12 for 48 points in 69 games.
Halifax native Wayne Maxner, a former coach of the Detroit Red Wings from 1980-1982, died on Thursday at age 80.
Born on Sept. 27, 1942 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Maxner was the top scorer for the Niagara Falls Flyers in 1962-63 in the Ontario Hockey Association (the OHL’s predecessor). He won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as league MVP with 32 goals and 62 assists in 50 games on a team which was affiliated with the Boston Bruins and featured future NHLers Terry Crisp, Gary Dornhoefer, Don Awrey and Derek Sanderson.
Maxner, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound left winger, played two years with the Bruins from 1964-1966 and scored eight goals with nine assists in 61 career games. His first NHL goal was on New York Rangers goalie Marcel Paille in Boston’s 3-3 tie at Boston Garden on Dec. 5, 1964.
After a 10-year pro career with the WHL’s San Francisco and California Seals, the AHL’s Hershey Bears, Montreal Voyageurs and Springfield Kings and the EHL’s Long Island Ducks, Maxner began his coaching career with the QMJHL’s Hull Festivals for one season in 1974-75 and then four seasons with the OHL Windsor Spitfires.
In 1979-80, Maxner led the Spitfires to the league final before losing to Mike Keenan’s Peterborough Petes, a team which featured future Hall of Famer and ex-Red Wings defender Larry Murphy. Maxner also led the OHL Sudbury Wolves and London Knights before returning to Windsor from 1991-1993.
Maxner’s cause of death is unknown. He is left by his son Wayne, daughter Shelley and stepdaughters Leigh and Averil.
