‘The mentor I needed’: Analyzing personalities of the conference finals coaches (2024)

We often focus on a hockey coach’s personality for the wrong reasons. A 30-second news conference by John Tortorella goes viral within minutes. Alain Vigneault shows a total incapacity for reading a room and is instantly vilified by the masses.

This stuff obviously gets amplified in the Stanley Cup playoffs. But these conference finals have been notable for a different reason. All four coaches involved are model citizens, each in their own way. They sit down and answer questions and provide insight into their teams that ultimately improves the fan experience, because those answers allow people on the outside to better understand their teams.

It is an important part of any NHL coach’s job, but one we only seem to notice when it’s done poorly. Consider this an attempt to rectify that.

Vegas Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer, Dallas Stars coach Rick Bowness, New York Islanders coach Barry Trotz and Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper each have very different personalities, but the end result with each of them is the same. You often come away from their media availabilities having learned something or, at the very least, gained some degree of insight into what they are thinking, whether that’s after a game or between games and even when they are actively trying to withhold information.

But the way in which they get there differs from one coach to another. So we decided to try and pin down each of their personality types. To do so, we used the Myers and Briggs theory of 16 personality types and attributed one of them to each coach based on our own read after countless Zoom calls.

Rick Bowness
Personality type: The Champion, the ENFP personality type
Definition: ENFPs are people-centered creators with a focus on possibilities and a contagious enthusiasm for new ideas, people and activities. Energetic, warm, and passionate, ENFPs love to help other people explore their creative potential.

ENFPs are typically agile and expressive communicators, using their wit, humor, and mastery of language to create engaging stories.

One thing about Bowness is that two things are guaranteed whenever he speaks to the media. For one, he will constantly tap his fingers on the table in front of him, making for less than ideal soundbites for our broadcast colleagues. But secondly, he will always laugh at least once. Even after a loss. He has been coaching in the NHL off and on for 35 years, but it has mainly been as an assistant coach. It is not difficult to understand why.

Assistant coaches are often the ones who serve as a buffer between the players and the hard-ass head coach. Bowness seems ideally suited for this role, except when Jim Montgomery was let go Bowness was thrust into this role. It is one he has filled before, but not since 2004.

But to his players, Bowness is a breath of fresh air.

“One of the nicest guys I ever met,” Stars defenseman John Klingberg said. “He’s very emotional too. When he talks to the team he always brings that emotion in there to get us going and wake us up or whatever we need. He demands that everyone brings 100 percent to every game, and outside of the rink he’s always there if you need something to talk about. Just an overall nice guy and very competitive.”

When asked about Jamie Oleksiak’s breakaway goal in Game 4 of the Western Conference final, Bowness broke out laughing. It happens at least once, but often more than once whenever he is in front of a camera.

“No, when your two D lead the rush, that’s not part of the plan,” Bowness said, once he was done laughing at the thought of Oleksiak having a breakaway. “All of a sudden Miro and Rig go up the ice, let it go man. Hey, that’s hockey.”

But even when Bowness is upset, as he was after the Stars’ 3-0 loss to Vegas in Game 2, he offers a level of blunt honesty that is uncommon from coaches in the playoffs.

“We knew they were going to come out with a big push in that first period,” Bowness said in his first answer. “I thought we were OK, I thought we survived the first period. The second period we got absolutely killed in the faceoff circle. Just killed. They controlled every faceoff, they controlled the puck, and when you’re doing that, you’re controlling the tempo. A lot of those issues are self-inflicted. So it started with the faceoff circle, they’re able to come at us, we end up taking three penalties, took away all our flow of anything that we could build. We made a terrible change on their first goal, 3-on-1 on their third goal, those are self-inflicted problems. They played a great game, give them a lot of credit, but when you lose that many faceoffs and taking that many penalties in a period there’s no chance you can get any flow to your game. So there’s your answer.”

Bowness has been in the NHL for so long, he has ties to just about everyone. This stage of the playoffs is no different, as he was Cooper’s assistant in Tampa prior to joining the Stars.

“Bones, he’s another one I can go on forever about,” Cooper said of Bowness. “Just on a personal standpoint, when I came into the NHL, I was a little green. I knew I was comfortable as a coach, but I wasn’t comfortable with the NHL yet. Rick really helped me with that. He was just the mentor I needed. The nuances of the NHL I didn’t know about, he really helped me with. He’s extremely well-liked by the players, he was a player, he knows the way they think and he’s really supportive. In the end, he values hard work and preparation. He values a lot of the things that encompass players, if you take the skill out of the game he encompasses all the attributes you need to have success. He was invaluable to me at the start of my career and I’m pretty much not surprised he’s having success now.”

Jon Cooper
Personality type: The Visionary, the ENTP personality type
Definition: ENTPs are inspired innovators, motivated to find new solutions to intellectually challenging problems. They are curious and clever, and seek to comprehend the people, systems, and principles that surround them. Open-minded and unconventional, Visionaries want to analyze, understand, and influence other people.

ENTPs enjoy playing with ideas and especially like to banter with others. They use their quick wit and command of language to keep the upper hand with other people, often cheerfully poking fun at their habits and eccentricities. While the ENTP enjoys challenging others, in the end they are usually happy to live and let live. They are rarely judgmental, but they may have little patience for people who can’t keep up.

Cooper’s personality can be infectious, and as a reporter, it is extremely difficult not to quote him every time he speaks. He is the type of person you hope is sitting at the bar if you walk in alone, looking for good conversation. But at times in his media availabilities, once he finally shows up (the scheduled time appears to merely be a suggestion), he can be short on some questions, and extremely eloquent on others.

“It’s a luxury,” Cooper said after a Game 4 against the Islanders on Sunday when asked what it means to have someone like Victor Hedman who can play half the game. That was it. That was his answer.

Other times, answering a question that is pretty banal, Cooper can produce gems like this one following a Game 3 loss when asked if it is easier to move on from a loss after doing so much right.

“I don’t know,” Cooper began, before going on to show that he did in fact know. “One thing about this league, you can win a game in the last nine seconds and you can’t sit here and come in to the rink with pom poms the next night. You need to turn the page on that. When you lose a game in the last three minutes, you can’t hang your head when you come to the rink. You’ve got to turn the page and move forward. It’s why they make them best of sevens, it’s because, you know the greatest thing about sports? It’s live drama that’s unfolding with no script. There’s been some pretty exciting games and it’s two pretty evenly matched teams and I don’t think anybody thought there was going to be a sweep. We’re pretty confident in the way we’re playing. I have no idea how they feel, I’m sure they are too.”

Cooper is the longest-tenured coach in the NHL, and some of his players like Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat have been playing for him longer than that.

“I guess a little bit more laid back, kind of, I don’t know, easy-going where he talks things out, tries to figure things out that way,” Johnson said when asked to describe Cooper’s personality. “Not so intense, but he says the right things. I think you can see through our speeches this year he does a good job saying what we need to hear.”

That applies to the media as well. On Sept. 11, prior to Game 3, Cooper was asked two questions about the injury to star center Brayden Point before, out of nowhere, he was asked for his thoughts on the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. This was his response:

“From 19 years ago?” Cooper began. “It’s life-altering, that’s what it was. It was tragic. I think it was an awakening for us and in times of conflict, it was amazing how the country and the world, for that matter, were brought together after that day. It seems weird to say 19 years ago because it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. But nobody’s ever forgotten that, and especially the people that lost their lives and gave their lives. It’s one of those events where everybody knows exactly where they were. So it’s a sad day, but it’s also a day to remember. Remember how people, they stick together and how the human spirit still endures and overcomes, even in some of the darkest moments. That’s what this day sticks in my head for.”

Then Cooper went right back to talking about Game 3. It was remarkable.

Peter DeBoer
Personality type: The Mastermind, the INTJ personality type
Definition: INTJs are analytical problem-solvers, eager to improve systems and processes with their innovative ideas. They have a talent for seeing possibilities for improvement, whether at work, at home, or in themselves.

Often intellectual, INTJs enjoy logical reasoning and complex problem-solving. They approach life by analyzing the theory behind what they see, and are typically focused inward, on their own thoughtful study of the world around them. INTJs are drawn to logical systems and are much less comfortable with the unpredictable nature of other people and their emotions. They are typically independent and selective about their relationships, preferring to associate with people who they find intellectually stimulating.

DeBoer is the rare smart guy who suffers fools. He knows he is the smartest guy in the room, but he will tolerate your simple questions and not mock you for asking them, though he kind of wants to. Take these two examples following an overtime loss to the Stars in Game 3. First, he was asked if the Stars dominance in the second period and overtime could be linked to the fact the Golden Knights had the long change in those periods, as the Stars did as well, it should be noted.

“Well, the overtime was one shift,” DeBoer began immediately. “The second period, I don’t know, we’ve traditionally been a good second-period team. They upped their compete level after the first and, you know, pushed us back a little bit. I liked our first, I was a little disappointed we didn’t come out ahead after the first with some of the work we put in. They pushed back in the second, I don’t think it was long change, I just think a real good team gave us a real good push in the second period but I liked our response in the third.”

Later, DeBoer was asked about two Stars goals where they were able to get behind the Golden Knights defense.

“No, actually I don’t pin either of those on our defensem*n,” DeBoer said. “We’re asking our D to get up in the play that’s a big piece of our game. Part of that is we need to manage the puck well knowing that and that was a bit of an issue. But even on the Oleksiak goal, we have Karlsson in alone just before that and their guy makes a big save on it. So we had opportunities tonight to either get out in front or put the game away late and we didn’t capitalize.”

DeBoer speaks in a monotone way. He is always respectful and answers every question he is asked but gives off a vibe that most questions are a waste of his considerable hockey intellect. He is similar to Tortorella in that sense, the difference being that DeBoer is nice about it and answers the questions, no matter how idiotic he might think it is.

To his players, however, DeBoer seems to be anything they need him to be, which only adds to the analytical problem-solving persona we have attached to him (without his consent).

“Uhh, how would you, I mean, I think he’s got a good feel for knowing people,” Nick Holden said when asked to describe DeBoer’s personality. “His personality, he can read a situation really well. He’s done a good job with our team. When we need him to be a little harder on us and show us what we’re doing wrong, he’s able to do that. But he’s also able to read if he needs to be a little bit lighter and joke around a little bit, he can do that too. I know I didn’t say exactly what his personality is, but I think the way he reads a room is pretty good, so his personality can change to that.”

Barry Trotz
Personality type: The Teacher, the ENFJ personality type
Definition: ENFJs are idealist organizers, driven to implement their vision of what is best for humanity. They often act as catalysts for human growth because of their ability to see potential in other people and their charisma in persuading others to their ideas. They are focused on values and vision, and are passionate about the possibilities for people.

ENFJs are typically energetic and driven, and often have a lot on their plates. They are tuned into the needs of others and acutely aware of human suffering; however, they also tend to be optimistic and forward-thinking, intuitively seeing opportunity for improvement. The ENFJ is ambitious, but their ambition is not self-serving: rather, they feel personally responsible for making the world a better place.

Trotz is your favorite university professor, the one who was a foremost expert in the subject but never talked down to you and always answered the simplest questions with a perfect explanation. Trotz has extreme confidence in his team because he has extreme confidence in himself and therefore knows how well-coached his team is. But it’s not arrogance. It’s the opposite. It’s humble confidence.

Take this as an example of Trotz’s approach to what is a pretty standard question, asking him to evaluate the importance of process versus results in the playoffs. It is a question that coaches are asked all the time, but one that doesn’t always elicit a response like this.

“If you’re an athlete, and it doesn’t matter what sport, psychologists will tell you that you have to be in the moment and you can’t worry about the results,” Trotz said the day after a difficult loss in the final seconds of Game 2. “Yes, the results are what you’re judged on and all that, but you have to focus on your process of what you’re doing in that moment. If you’re thinking too far ahead and you’re thinking about the score, then you’re thinking about the wrong things, you’re not thinking about your job. Your job demands you to do a number of different things from a processing standpoint, from a physical standpoint, and you’re disconnecting the computer if you’re thinking about the end results.

“Process will get you the end result most times. Sometimes it’s not fair. Sometimes it’s a play, sometimes it’s a lucky goal or a break. We had a tremendous game in Game 6 against Philadelphia, our process was all there. They scored a winning goal, our stick breaks when we’re in the offensive zone, they come down and are able to score because we have a stick break on us. That’s nothing to do with the process, that’s just life sometimes. As we say, you know, I didn’t want to swear right there, but it’s going to hit the fan and you can’t control it. So you just have to put it behind you. But our process was really good in that game, our thought process, our game, all that. But we caught a bad break. Call it what it is. But that’s life. You don’t always get every break in life, you have to go out and work hard and you have to execute what you’re capable of executing and usually it’ll turn out in your favor. But as I say, sometimes life’s not fair, it gives you a bad break here and there. You have a little accident, you clean yourself up, get it fixed up and go at it again. That’s sort of the mindset athletes have to have.”

Trotz puts as much effort into answering a question as he does into coaching his team. That is one thing all four of these coaches, as different as they are personality-wise, have in common.

(Photo of Barry Trotz: Elsa / Getty Images)