FOXBOROUGH, MASS. - Scotty Bowman is trying to do the math.
The NHL’s all-time leader in coaching wins has just been asked if he’ll ever see his record eclipsed. It’s a question that has left his brilliant, complex, calculating, sometimes eccentric hockey mind churning.
Bowman, whose name is etched on the Stanley Cup 14 times, has 1,244 victories. Entering play against the Montreal Canadiens Thursday, Chicago’s Joel Quenneville was tied with the late Al Arbour for second spot with 782, some 462 behind Bowman.
“Let’s say you get 40 to 45 wins per season, you’d still need at least about eight, 10, 12 years to get there,” Bowman said during a phone interview from Florida late Thursday.