As you may already know, former Flyers player and Assistant Coach Jack McIlhargey passed away on July 19th. He fought a hard battle with cancer, and Jack passed away at his home in Burnaby, British Columbia.
The 6’0, 200 pound defenseman played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, and finished his career with the Hartford Whalers. He finished his career with 11 goals, 36 assists, finishing for 46 points total. Played a total of 393 games and tallied up 1,102 penalty minutes. He played for the Flyers 1974-75, 1976-77, 1979-80, 1980-81. For the Canucks 1976-1980. And the Hartford Whalers 1981-82, where he finished his career after that season.
Mcilhargey spent most of his time with the Vancouver Canucks. He was a player, assistant coach, pro scout, and the head coach of their affiliates. Jack began his career with the Flyers in 1974. Became a Canuck in January of 1977 when he and Larry Goodenough were traded for Bob Dailey. He played 167 games with Vancouver through 1977-80. He then was traded back to Philly in January of 1980. He was traded with Norm Barnes to the Hartford Whalers in November of 1980 for the Whalers second round pick in the NHL Entry Draft.
His post-playing career was filled with travel between Russia, Milwaukee, Hamilton, and Syracuse, NY. Also, filled with coaching and scouting, and he was was a special assistant to Harry Neale in 1984. He established the Canucks Alumni Association, and was responsible for numerous assignments for scouting. Jack moved into coaching in November of 1984 after the Canucks fired head coach Bill LaForge. He then was assistant coach to Neale for seven years, alongside Pat Quinn, Tom Watt, and Bob McCammon.
When Vancouver sent McIlhargey and their 21-year-old goalie prospect Troy Gamble to Soviet Russia, Jack was able to spend time with Soviet coach Anatoli Tarasov.
McIlhargey was now in charge of Vancouver’s affiliate in Milwaukee three years later. He spent the 1991-92 season there. As the team moved to Hamilton he remained the head coach. They moved to Hamilton through the 1992-1994 seasons. They then moved to Syracuse for the 1994-1999 seasons.
McIlhargey was voted one of 30 the All-Time Greatest Coaches for the Canucks in 1999. In June of 2006, he was fired as Assistant Coach by a familiar face, Alain Vigneault. It was later that he would be a pro scout for the Canucks. He worked as a scout for just one season, he moved to the Flyers organization in 2007 as an assistant coach. He was dismissed by the team along with John Stevens in December of 2009. In 2011, Jack was inducted into the British Columbia Hockey Hall of Fame.
As we remember Jack McIlhargey it is safe to say he had his hands full and had one heck of a career both playing and post-playing career.
