Stan Butler

Stan Butler (born February 2, 1956) is a Canadian former ice hockey coach and general manager. He served as the only head coach and general manager in the franchise history of the Brampton Battalion and North Bay Battalion, from 1998 to 2019. He has spent his entire professional coaching career in junior ice hockey, and on two occasions, Butler has also served as the head coach of the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team.

As of the 2019–20 OHL season, he was the longest tenured head coach in the OHL with one team. Butler also coached the Oshawa Generals, Prince George Cougars, and Erie Otters. In total, he coached 1,720 OHL games and won 798, and two appearances in the J. Ross Robertson Cup finals. In 28 seasons in the Canadian Hockey League, Butler has 826 coaching wins.

Career Butler began coaching minor ice hockey in 1985 with Wexford and led his peewee, bantam and midget teams to four City of Toronto and three Ontario provincial championships.

Butler broke into the OHL when hired by the Oshawa Generals. In the 1994–95 OHL season the team had a record of 40-21-5 for 85 points and set a CHL record when 10 players were chosen in the 1995 NHL entry draft. After the 1995–96 OHL season the Generals won 30 games and tallied 68 points.

Butler moved to Prince George, British Columbia, to coach the Prince George Cougars for the 1996–97 WHL season. losing in the third round of the Western Hockey League playoffs after defeating the first place Portland Winter Hawks and third place Spokane Chiefs in the first two rounds.

Butler returned to the OHL and began his tenure with the Brampton Battalion as an expansion franchise in the 1998–99 OHL season. The Battalion were led in scoring that season by underage 15–year old Jason Spezza, and fellow future NHL player Raffi Torres. The inaugural Battalion season was one of only two seasons Butler's troops failed to make the playoffs. Butler was inducted to the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

Butler moved to North Bay with the Battalion for the 2013–14 OHL season and won the Eastern conference Bobby Orr Trophy. Butler earned his 600th victory in the OHL on February 1, 2015, with a 3–2 win against the Niagara IceDogs. Butler earned his 700th victory in the OHL on March 2, 2018, with a 2–1 win against the Mississauga Steelheads.

On December 10, 2019, the team announced that Butler had been reassigned as a special advisor to the team owner. Adam Dennis was named the new general manager, and Ryan Oulahen was named the interim head coach. As of that date, Butler had coached 1,660 games in the Canadian Hockey League, and earned 765 wins. He ranked fourth overall in wins by Ontario Hockey League coaches, behind Brian Kilrea, Bert Templeton and Dale Hunter; and ranked third in games coached behind Kilrea and Templeton.

Butler became head coach of the Erie Otters on January 26, 2023, pending immigration to the United States. He remained with the Otters until January 16, 2025, when he took a leave of absence as the organization investigated a breach in "team policy". On January 27, the Otters found that Butler had violated policy and fired him, declining specific comments. Butler concluded his tenure with the Otters with a 57–58–13 record.

National coaching duties He was named an assistant coach for Canada men's national under-18 ice hockey team that won a gold medal at the 1998 Three Nations Tournament in the Czech Republic, and served as head coach of Canada men's national under-18 ice hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1999 Four Nations tournament in the Czech Republic. Canada earned a silver medal after losing 5-4 to Russia in the championship game.

Butler returned to international hockey after 13 years, leading the under-18 national team to an eighth straight gold medal at the 2015 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in the Czech Republic.

Personal life Butler was born in East York, Ontario.

Coaching record Canadian Hockey League coaching record

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime Losses; SL = Shootout Losses; PTS = Points

Team Year League Regular season Postseason G W L T OTL SL Pts Finish Result Oshawa Generals 1994–95 OHL 66 40 21 5 — — 85 2nd East Lost in division quarter-finals (3-4 vs. PBO) Oshawa Generals 1995–96 OHL 66 30 28 8 — — 68 4th East Lost in division quarter-finals (1-4 vs. BEL) Prince George Cougars 1996–97 WHL 72 28 39 5 — — 61 6th West Won in division quarter-finals (4-2 vs. POR) Won in division semi-finals (3-0 vs. SPO) Lost in division finals (2-4 vs. SEA) Brampton Battalion 1998–99 OHL 68 8 57 3 — — 19 5th Midwest Did not qualify Brampton Battalion 1999–2000 OHL 68 25 28 11 4 — 65 3rd Midwest Lost in conference quarter-finals (2-4 vs. ERI) Brampton Battalion 2000–01 OHL 68 33 22 9 4 — 79 3rd Midwest Won in conference quarter-finals (4-0 vs. GUE) Lost in conference semi-finals (1-4 vs. ERI) Brampton Battalion 2001–02 OHL 68 26 35 5 2 — 59 5th Midwest Did not qualify Brampton Battalion 2002–03 OHL 68 34 24 6 4 — 78 1st Central Won in conference quarter-finals (4-2 vs. BAR) Lost in conference semi-finals (1-4 vs. TOR) Brampton Battalion 2003–04 OHL 68 25 32 9 2 — 61 4th Central Won in conference quarter-finals (4-3 vs. OTT) Lost in conference semi-finals (1-4 vs. TOR) Brampton Battalion 2004–05 OHL 68 33 24 9 2 — 77 3rd Central Lost in conference quarter-finals (2-4 vs. SBY) Brampton Battalion 2005–06 OHL 68 44 21 — 1 2 91 1st Central Won in conference quarter-finals (4-2 vs. BEL) Lost in conference semi-finals (1-4 vs. BAR) Brampton Battalion 2006–07 OHL 68 27 36 — 1 4 59 4th Central Lost in conference quarter-finals (0-4 vs. BAR) Brampton Battalion 2007–08 OHL 68 42 22 — 1 3 88 1st Central Lost in conference quarter-finals (1-4 vs. BAR) Brampton Battalion 2008–09 OHL 68 47 19 — 1 1 96 1st Central Won in conference quarter-finals (4-0 vs. PBO) Won in conference semi-finals (4-2 vs. MIS) Won in conference finals (4-2 vs. BEL) Lost in J. Ross Robertson Cup (1-4 vs. WSR) Brampton Battalion 2009–10 OHL 68 25 29 — 7 7 64 3rd Central Won in conference quarter-finals (4-3 vs. KGN) Lost in conference semi-finals (0-4 vs. BAR) Brampton Battalion 2010–11 OHL 68 29 32 — 1 6 65 3rd Central Lost in conference quarter-finals (0-4 vs. NIA) Brampton Battalion 2011–12 OHL 68 36 22 — 3 7 82 3rd Central Won in conference quarter-finals (4-0 vs SBY) Lost in conference semi-finals (0-4 vs. NIA) Brampton Battalion 2012–13 OHL 68 34 25 — 3 6 77 2nd Central Lost in conference quarter-finals (1-4 vs. SBY) North Bay Battalion 2013–14 OHL 68 38 24 — 4 2 82 1st Central Won in conference quarter-finals (4-3 vs. NIA) Won in conference semi-finals (4-2 vs. BAR) Won in conference finals (4-0 vs. OSH) Lost in J. Ross Robertson Cup (1-4 vs. GUE) North Bay Battalion 2014–15 OHL 68 37 20 — 6 5 85 2nd Central Won in conference quarter-finals (4-0 vs. KGN) Won in conference semi-finals (4-1 vs. BAR) Lost in conference finals (2-4 vs. OSH) North Bay Battalion 2015–16 OHL 68 35 23 — 6 4 80 2nd Central Won in conference quarter-finals (4-3 vs. PBO) Lost in conference semi-finals (0-4 vs. BAR) North Bay Battalion 2016–17 OHL 68 24 38 — 5 1 54 4th Central Did not qualify North Bay Battalion 2017–18 OHL 68 30 28 — 7 3 70 3rd Central Lost in conference quarter-finals (1-4 vs. KGN) North Bay Battalion 2018–19 OHL 68 30 33 — 3 2 65 4th Central Lost in conference quarter-finals (1-4 vs. NIA) North Bay Battalion 2019–20 OHL 28 5 23 — 0 0 10 (5th Central) Fired on December 10, 2019 Erie Otters 2022–23 OHL 23 5 16 — 1 1 12 5th Midwest Did not qualify Erie Otters 2023–24 OHL 68 33 28 — 5 2 73 3rd Midwest Lost in conference quarter-finals (2-4 vs. KIT) Erie Otters 2024–25 OHL 41 23 15 — 3 0 49 (3rd Midwest) Fired on January 27, 2025TOTALSOHL172079872565765617445 division titles2 finals appearancesTOTALSWHL7228395——61——TOTALSCHL179282676470765618545 division titles2 finals appearances