He Is Still the Wind Beneath the Red Wings

Scotty Bowman retired as coach of the Detroit Red Wings last June after winning his record ninth Stanley Cup championship. He stayed on as a consultant and has helped prepare the team for the playoffs.

Bowman, 69, spends most of the year in Sarasota, Fla. Looking tanned and relaxed, he discussed the Red Wings, the Mighty Ducks and his career.

Question: Was it difficult for you to get used to your new role?

Answer: Not really. Actually, I’ve been a lot busier than I thought. You’re always concerned, are you going to be busy enough, and I can say there were very few days I got up and wondered, ‘What am I going to do today?’

*

Q: What are your impressions of the Ducks? You’ve seen them a little bit.

A: They’re a team that had a terrific second half. I think they had some growing pains early on. Their additions really helped them. Sometimes a team can just play one way but they’ve been a good two-way team, offensively and defensively. They’ve been pretty stingy on defense. If you get into the lower third of the league in goals-against, it doesn’t happen by fluke. You’ve got to work on it. You’ve got to have a pretty good system and you’ve got to have some players that can play that way.

*

Q: It’s difficult to compare from one season to the next, but what are your thoughts about the Red Wings? They have some new blood this season, including winger Henrik Zetterberg.

A: He’s been a terrific rookie. I’ve seen him play. They use him a lot. A lot of guys get onto a team and don’t play a lot but Zetterberg not only got onto a championship team, but he’s playing. Usually it takes a while to get that many minutes, but they use him on defense, they use him on checking and they use him on the penalty kill. He’s on a very strong line. He originally came up as a bit of a center. He found his niche with [Pavel] Datsyuk and that’s been a good line. It gives them another dimension because [teams can] key on [Sergei] Fedorov or [Brendan] Shanahan. They’ve played together now a few years. You like to have another line. Teams can shut down a line. It’s hard to shut down two.

*

Q: The fact that you’re not behind the bench now -- do you miss it?

A: No, because I think I prepared for it. I just felt it was time to get out. I was hoping that we would win. I might not have felt the same way had we not won. Then you always say there’s unfinished business.

I made up my mind last year was going to be my last year. I didn’t mention it to anyone because probably I wanted to be able to change my mind, or I didn’t want to have a farewell tour. That might have been a distraction. It made more sense to me and the team to do it when I did it. I announced it right away so there’s not anything hanging over anyone’s head. The team can get on.

And the team was in good shape. I felt pretty good. I knew it was a good team coming back. I probably would have had a tough time if I wasn’t still with the team, but I’ve got a three-year consulting deal. I think it would have been tougher to ride off into the sunset and not go near them.

*

Q: Do you armchair coach?

A: No, I don’t do that. I watch games, maybe, a bit as a coach. I know the tough parts of the job and I know the good parts of the job. I don’t look at teams and say, ‘You should have done this and that.’ It goes through your mind but sometimes it turns out the other way around.

*

Q: If Detroit should win the Cup, would you say this is a dynasty?

A: Well four out of seven. It’s hard. I think true dynasties would be the two Montreal dynasties and the Oilers and the Islanders. Outside of that, well, those teams are dynasties. The Oilers won four out of five, the Islanders won four in a row, Montreal won four in a row and five in a row.

*

Q: Will any coach ever match the number of Stanley Cups you’ve won?

A: It’s going to happen, but I won’t be around. These things happen in time, but now, when a coach does well, he usually gets smart and leaves coaching and goes up to managing.

*

Q: This time of year, goaltending is so important, and everybody is looking at Curtis Joseph and wondering, ‘Can he do it?’ What’s your assessment?

A: We had three different goalies win three Cups. That’s a pretty good testament to the team, too, that they were able to get replacements. The first year [Mike] Vernon was good. Then [Chris] Osgood, we won the second year with a young goalie, then we went out and got [Dominik] Hasek. That’s a very unusual feat. I don’t think it’s ever happened.... And it could be four. Even already, it’s three.

*

Q: Now that you’ve stepped back, can you take personal pride in your role in the whole thing?

A: Yeah, but you know, probably the one constant is the owner [Mike Ilitch]. That’s what you look at first. I got an opportunity to work here in different capacities and I felt good that we’ve continued.... The most underlying part for Detroit is the fact the system has developed a lot of players for them.

There’s some players that have been here a long time that were draft picks. I looked it up the other day: Only one team, I think the 1999 Dallas Stars, that won the Cup and didn’t have 10 players from their own system.

I feel good that the team has been able to come up with players, and they’ve got more coming.