John Anderson

John Murray Anderson (born March 28, 1957) is a Canadian former ice hockey right winger. He was the head coach of the Chicago Wolves of the International Hockey League (IHL) and American Hockey League (AHL) from 1997 to 2008, again from 2013 to 2016. Anderson also served as interim head coach for the Wolves in 2023. In the National Hockey League (NHL), he is a former head coach of the Atlanta Thrashers and assistant coach of the Phoenix Coyotes and Minnesota Wild. He played 12 seasons in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Quebec Nordiques, and Hartford Whalers.

Playing career

As a youth, Anderson played in the 1969 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Wexford, Toronto. Anderson was the captain of his junior team, the Toronto Marlboros. He attended L'Amoreaux Collegiate Institute in Scarborough while playing Junior Hockey.

Anderson was drafted in the first round, 11th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1977 NHL entry draft. He played 814 career NHL games, scoring 282 goals and 349 assists for 631 points from 1977–78 until 1988–89. Anderson was beginning to establish himself during his third season in Toronto when the club made a four-player trade with the Vancouver Canucks that brought winger Rick Vaive and centre Bill Derlago to Toronto. Anderson was paired with the two new acquisitions to form a high scoring line for the Maple Leafs. His best statistical season was the 1982–83 season, when he set career highs with 49 assists and 80 points. Following the 1984–85 season, the fourth year in a row that Anderson had scored 30-or-more goals for the Maple Leafs, he was traded to the Quebec Nordiques for defensemen Brad Maxwell.

Anderson continued to be a valued goal scorer with Quebec and had scored 21 goals when he was traded to the Hartford Whalers. Anderson then ended the 1985–86 season in Hartford with 25 points in 14 games following the trade, finishing the season with 29 goals and 74 points before scoring another 13 points in ten playoff games. The following year, his first full year with Hartford, Whalers sniper Sylvain Turgeon battled injuries and Anderson filled in as the top left wing on the team. He hit the 30-goal plateau for the fifth and final time of his career finishing with 31 goals and 75 points, good for the third highest point total on the team. Anderson scored the winning goal against the New York Rangers on April 4, 1987, to give the Hartford Whalers their only division championship. He played two more years in Hartford before playing the last five seasons of his career in the minor leagues, primarily the International Hockey League, where he was a solid goal scorer.

As a player/assistant coach with the AHL’s New Haven Nighthawks in 1991-92, Anderson was voted a First Team AHL All-Star at left wing, the winner of the Les Cunningham Award as the league’s most valuable player, and the recipient of the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award for sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey.

Post-playing career

Anderson coached the 1995–96 Winston-Salem Mammoths to the Southern Hockey League finals during the league's only season where they lost to the Huntsville Channel Cats. In 1996–97, Anderson coached the Quad City Mallards to their first Colonial Hockey League championship in the franchise's second season.

In 1997, Anderson was hired as the head coach of the Chicago Wolves in the International Hockey League (IHL) and later in the American Hockey League (AHL). He became the Wolves' all-time coaching leader in wins with 371 and for postseason victories with 80. Anderson led the Wolves in winning the Turner Cup and Calder Cup four times in his initial eleven seasons at the team's helm. His team was crowned league champions in 1998, 2000 in the IHL and 2002 and 2008 in the AHL. Anderson coached the American gold medal-winning team in the 2007 Jewish World Cup hockey tournament in Israel.

On June 20, 2008, Anderson was named as the fourth head coach of the Atlanta Thrashers. On October 10, 2008, Anderson won his first game as an NHL coach 7–4 against Bruce Boudreau's Washington Capitals. On April 14, 2010, Anderson was released as head coach of the Thrashers after two seasons.

On July 12, 2011, Anderson became an assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes. On July 10, 2013, Anderson was rehired as the head coach of the Chicago Wolves. After leaving the Wolves in 2016, In February 2022, he agreed to join the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL as an assistant coach for the remainder of the 2021–22 season.

For his achievements with coaching the Wolves, he was named to the AHL Hall of Fame in 2019.

Anderson also helped establish John Anderson's, a diner best known for its "Banquet Burger", as well as its $4 breakfast special. The original restaurant is located at Victoria Park Ave. and Van Horne Ave. in Toronto, Ontario.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1972–73 Markham Waxers MetJHL — — — — — — — — — — 1973–74 Markham Waxers OPJHL — — — — — — — — — — 1973–74 Toronto Marlboros OHA 38 22 22 44 6 — — — — — 1974–75 Toronto Marlboros OMJHL 70 49 64 113 31 22 16 14 30 14 1974–75 Toronto Marlboros M-Cup — — — — — 4 4 6 10 2 1975–76 Toronto Marlboros OMJHL 39 26 25 51 19 10 7 4 11 7 1976–77 Toronto Marlboros OMJHL 64 57 62 119 42 6 3 5 8 0 1977–78 Dallas Black Hawks CHL 52 22 23 45 6 13 11 8 19 2 1977–78 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 17 1 2 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 1978–79 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 71 15 11 26 10 6 0 2 2 0 1979–80 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 74 25 28 53 22 3 1 1 2 0 1980–81 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 75 17 26 43 31 2 0 0 0 0 1981–82 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 69 31 26 57 30 — — — — — 1982–83 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 80 31 49 80 24 4 2 4 6 0 1983–84 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 73 37 31 68 22 — — — — — 1984–85 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 75 32 31 63 27 — — — — — 1985–86 Quebec Nordiques NHL 65 21 28 49 26 — — — — — 1985–86 Hartford Whalers NHL 14 8 17 25 2 10 5 8 13 0 1986–87 Hartford Whalers NHL 76 31 44 75 19 6 1 2 3 0 1987–88 Hartford Whalers NHL 63 17 32 49 20 — — — — — 1988–89 Hartford Whalers NHL 62 16 24 40 28 4 0 1 1 2 1989–90 Binghamton Whalers AHL 3 1 1 2 0 — — — — — 1989–90 HC Milano Saima ITA 9 7 9 16 18 — — — — — 1989–90 EHC Chur CHE-2 3 2 0 2 0 — — — — — 1990–91 Fort Wayne Komets IHL 63 40 43 83 24 1 3 0 3 0 1991–92 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 68 41 54 95 24 4 0 4 4 0 1992–93 San Diego Gulls IHL 65 34 46 80 18 11 5 6 11 4 1993–94 San Diego Gulls IHL 72 24 24 48 32 4 1 1 2 8 NHL totals 814 282 349 631 263 37 9 18 27 2

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1977 Canada WJC 7 10 5 15 6 1983 Canada WC 6 2 2 4 6 1985 Canada WC 9 5 2 7 18 Senior totals 15 7 4 11 24

NHL coaching statistics Team Year Regular season Postseason G W L OTL Pts Division rank ResultATL2008–098235416764th in SoutheastMissed playoffsATL2009–10 82353413832nd in SoutheastMissed playoffsTotal 164707519