Allan Eugene Sims (born April 18, 1953) is a Canadian former professional hockey player and

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). He played ten seasons in the NHL between 1973 and 1983 with the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

. After retiring he turned to coaching, and remained in this role from 1988 to 2016 in various minor leagues. Sims also served as the head coach of the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

in the NHL during the 1996-97 season.

Playing career

In 1972, Sims was the first-round (and first-ever) draft pick of the New York Raiders of the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

, but chose to sign with the

who had drafted him in the third round. At

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the state of New York (state), New York converge. It is the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Unit ...

, in Junior Hockey he had played with Bob Murray, a rushing defenceman. When he played for Boston he was paired for two years with the greatest rushing defenceman of all time,

Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...

. He played for Boston and its

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

affiliate for six seasons, and then for the

for the next two. Al Sims Bruins action

Coaching career

After Sims' retirement from the NHL, he played and coached hockey with

Fife Flyers Fife Flyers is the oldest professional ice hockey club in the UK, established in 1938. The Flyers play their home games at Fife Ice Arena in Kirkcaldy which has a capacity of just over 3000 (seated and standing). They joined the EIHL in 2011. ...

in Scotland. Later he coached in the International League and won the

Turner Cup The Turner Cup was the championship trophy of the International Hockey League from 1945 to 2001 and the renamed United Hockey League from 2007 to 2010. The Cup was named for Joe Turner, a goaltender from Windsor, Ontario. Turner became professi ...

with the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League, the original Inte ...

in 1993. Sims was named assistant coach under Ron Wilson with the

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Mighty may refer to: * ''Mighty'' (The Planet Smashers album) * ''Mighty'' (Kristene DiMarco album) * ''The Mighty'' (1929 film), a 1929 American action film *''The Mighty'', a 1998 comedy-drama film * ''The Mighty'' (comics), a DC Comics title *Th ...

1993-1996 before he became head coach of the

for the

1996–97 NHL season The 1996–97 NHL season was the 80th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Philadelphia Flyers in four games and won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 42 years. T ...

. Sims then became head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL for three years, from 1998 to 2000, moved on to the Central Hockey League for four years and to the

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League, and are the AHL affiliates of the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins. They play at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre ...

as an assistant coach for a year. In 2007–2008, Sims coached the

of the new IHL to his second Turner Cup championship, beating the Port Huron Icehawks 4 games to 3 after a triple-OT seventh and deciding game. After that, he led them to another Turner Cup in the 2008–09 season. In the following year (2009–10), Sims led the Komets to their third straight (and his personal fourth straight, counting the 1992–93 season) Turner Cup. With the team returning to the CHL after the IHL dissolved, it was eliminated in the second round of the 2010-11 postseason before winning the league in 2011–12. However, the Komets failed to make the postseason in 2012–13, with the team in the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

, his final season as their head coach. Sims' final minor league head coaching job came with the

Evansville IceMen The Evansville IceMen were a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL in Evansville, Indiana. The franchise was originally a member of the United Hockey League before it merged into the Central Hockey League in 2010. The franchise has won four po ...

of the ECHL; he took over during the 2014–15 season and coached them in 2015–16, failing to make the postseason either year. The team was declared dormant in 2016–17 in preparation for moving elsewhere, which turned out to be

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

in 2017–18, and a new head coach took over.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

NHL coaching statistics

Personal

Sims' son Tyler was the starting goaltender of the Providence College Friars in

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

, and a reserve goalie for several minor league teams between 2007–08 and 2010–11.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Al 1953 births Living people Anaheim Ducks coaches Boston Bruins draft picks Boston Bruins players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Scotland Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian ice hockey defencemen Canadian people of English descent Cornwall Royals (QMJHL) players EV Landshut players Fife Flyers players Hartford Whalers players Eishockey-Bundesliga players Ice hockey people from Ontario Los Angeles Kings players New Haven Nighthawks players New York Golden Blades draft picks Rochester Americans players San Jose Sharks coaches Sportspeople from Toronto Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States