Ted Nolan

Early Life and Junior Hockey Career

Ted Nolan was one of 12 children of Rose and Stan Nolan. He was the third youngest child of the family and had six brothers and five sisters. Nolan lived in a household that lacked electricity and plumbing. While growing up in Ontario, his parents emphasized family heritage and culture, and they also encouraged their children to follow their personal dreams.

Their home also had no running water. When Nolan built an outdoor rink so he could play hockey, he used the outdoor hand pump and poured water in a pail to help make ice. When Nolan and his brother Steve played hockey on the same team, they could not be on the ice together at the same time because they would share their hockey gloves and stick. Additionally, Nolan wore skates that were too big for him.

However, it was not just the equipment that was an obstacle for him. Nolan was often told he did not belong on the ice. He faced constant discrimination and racism because of his Ojibwe identity.

Nolan faced racism from both opposing players and teammates while playing for the Kenora Thistles of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL). As a teenager, he turned to alcohol and decided to quit school. Talking to the Canadian Press in 2023 about his autobiography Life in Two Worlds: A Coach’s Journey from the Reserve to the NHL and Back, Nolan recalled, “The scary part about it was people involved with our team were directly involved with the education system. Not once did they ask, ‘How come you’re not going to school?’ They just let me be.”

Looking back at his junior career, Nolan believes there was a lack of understanding and compassion toward minorities trying to play hockey. He spent one season in the MJHL (had 24 goals and 32 assists for 56 points in 51 games) during the 1975–76 season before proceeding to play for the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League.

Nolan played two seasons with the Greyhounds and had 22 goals and 46 assists for 68 points in 126 games. However, it was Nolan’s physical play that seemed to impress NHL scouts. He had 215 penalty minutes. With the fifth-round pick, 78th overall, Nolan was selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1978 NHL entry draft.

Professional Hockey Career

After Ted Nolan was drafted, he played one season in the Central Hockey League with the Kansas City Red Wings in 1978–79 and then five seasons with the Adirondack Red Wings in the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1979–84. While with Adirondack, Nolan was part of the team that won the 1981 Calder Cup (AHL Championship). In this time, he had a brief stint with the Red Wings where he played 60 games and had five goals and 15 assists for 20 points from 1982 to 1984.

On 7 March 1985, Nolan signed as a free agent with the Buffalo Sabres. However, he never played for the Sabres as he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for cash on 16 September 1985. Nolan only played 18 games for the Penguins (had one goal and one assist for two points), before retiring at age 26 because of a back injury.

OHL Coaching Career

There is no doubt that Ted Nolan will be best remembered in the hockey world as a coach. He began his coaching career with the Greyhounds as an assistant coach in 1988–89 and replaced head coach Don Boyd midseason.

In Nolan’s first full season coaching the Greyhounds in 1989–90, Sault Ste Marie only had a winning percentage of.318, as the Greyhounds won 18 times in 66 games. However, as the team matured, success came. In the four Ontario Hockey League seasons from 1990 to 1994, the Greyhounds had a record of 156 wins, 87 losses and 21 ties for an impressive winning percentage of.631. Sault Ste Marie won the 1991 and 1992 Ontario Hockey League Championship, and the 1993 Memorial Cup.

Move to the NHL

Ted Nolan spent one season as an assistant coach with the Hartford Whalers in 1994–95, before two seasons coaching the Buffalo Sabres from 1995 to 1997. After missing the playoffs in his first NHL season, the Sabres were 10 games above.500 (40-30-12) in 1996–97. Buffalo reached the Eastern Conference semifinals after beating the Ottawa Senators in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and Nolan won the Jack Adams Award. Despite winning the NHL’s top coaching honour and leading the Sabres to a Northeast Division title, Nolan had philosophical differences with Sabres general manager (GM) John Muckler. Even though Muckler did not return as the Sabres GM in 1997–98, Darcy Regier, the new GM, replaced Nolan with Lindy Ruff.

Systemic Racism

Ted Nolan had the resumé to coach professionally again. However, the NHL head coaching jobs did not come. Nolan is of the belief he was a victim of systematic racism. According to Joshua Clipperton of the Canadian Press, Nolan stated that there were “rumours I wouldn’t listen to direction, I’m a hard guy to work with, I’m lazy, I was drunk at practice. When you say ‘lazy’ and ‘drunk at practice,’ that really hit home. Our people have been described as that for so long.”

Return to Coaching

Ted Nolan did not return to coaching until the 2005–06 season, where he had great success as the head coach and director of hockey operations of the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Wildcats went 52-15-0-3 and qualified for the Memorial Cup final, before losing 6-2 to the Quebec Remparts.

From there, Nolan returned to the NHL where he was the head coach of the New York Islanders for two seasons (2006 to 2008). That was followed by two seasons as the vice president of hockey operations for the Rochester Americans (2009 to 2011); three seasons coaching Latvia, leading up to and including the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi; two additional seasons once again coaching the Sabres (2013 to 2015); and one season coaching Poland (2017 to 2018).

Charity Endeavours

In 2004, the Ted Nolan Foundation was created. Its intent was to help “revitalize the mind, body and spirit of young people” and “raise scholarship funds for First Nations Women wishing to complete their education.” Through the foundation, Ted Nolan tried to honour his mother Rose, who was killed by a drunk driver at the age of 58 on 13 February 1981.

In 2013, Nolan, along with his sons Brandon and Jordan (who both played in the NHL), created the First Nations Hockey School. It is a multi-day hockey school that has taken place throughout Canada for all First Nations youth between the ages of seven and 15.