The Funniest Devil of Them All, Tom McVie | 40 YEARS WITH STAN

If, as the saying goes, "Rhythm Saved The World," then I submit that "Humor Saved The Devils" during the dark ages of their pre-playoff years.
Losing never is fun and was particularly horrible in those first few seasons after the earlier franchises had failed, first in Kansas City and then in Denver.
"We sure could have used a few laughs during those tough times," recalled original Devils owner Dr. John McMullen, "and we did manage a few chuckles in between losses."
Original Devils coach Billy MacMillan found nothing rib-tickling as the losses overwhelmed the occasional victory.
Somehow MacMillan retained his sanity through, 1982-83, the maiden season in New Jersey. But, Billy Mac enjoyed no such luck the following campaign. After his team's unlucky 13th game, the Devils- no-joke record was 1-12-0.
"I brought some smiles early that November when we beat Chicago, 6-3," said Glenn (Chico) Resch, the club's current radio analyst. "I made 33 saves out of 36 shots. For one game we had some humor in the room."
Unfortunately, the laugh soon was on Chico's backup goalie, Ron Low, who was blitzed in Edmonton. Egad! What Cads!! The Oilers ripped New Jersey 13-4 and the trap door was ready for Billy Mac who had lost any humor in his team's 2-18-0 record. As a matter of fact, Billy Boy also was about to also lose his job. Twice in one fell swoop.
Mac not only was given the hook as G.M. but also as a traffic cop behind the bench.
Long-stemmed Max McNab, appreciated for his good humor, was given the managerial gig. "Granted that things weren't funny around the rink," Slapsie Maxie allowed, "But our new coach will find humor in just about anything."
True words never were spoken by a National Hockey League executive. As MacMillan exited through one revolving door in East Rutherford, in came a gravel-voiced character who truly believed that humor saved the world -- if not the Devils.
In between his witticisms, Tom McVie also managed to wax philosophical and media members discovered that during Tom's first press conference. Eyeing the crowd eager to hear his introductory proclamation, McVie took the reporters aback by reaching into his vast knowledge of the Old West and its heroes.
"I guess I'm supposed to ride in on a white horse and deliver," McVie said for openers. "But you can't expect me to come in here and do it alone, even though Paladin did. Those Western towns were smaller."
Over a dozen-game spread, McVie had his Devils playing solid .500 hockey. But, then potholes emerged and soon the potholes began looking more like crevasses as the losses grew.

After watching the four-time defending champion Islanders routinely win with Mike Bossy providing the scoring power, McVie chortled, "What I want for Christmas is a Mike Bossy doll. Wind it up and it scores 60 goals!"
In no time at all, Tom became a media darling. He'd answer any question and had no qualms about swinging at the hardballs. When one reporter asked how he felt about coaching a talent-short New Jersey expansion team, McVie shot back, "War is hell, but expansion is worse!"
Perhaps his sense of humor had been sharpened as a minor league player, long before Tom arrived at the Meadowlands Arena. After graduating from the Junior Prince Albert Mintos, McVie skated in such varied cities as Toledo, Seattle, Dayton, Portland (Oregon), Johnstown (Pennsylvania), Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Fort Wayne. He was a gritty, hustling forward who eventually moved into the coaching realm.
Tom's high point was reached at the end of the World Hockey Association's final campaign.
Armed with Hall of Famer Bobby Hull leading the attack, McVie orchestrated a championship Winnipeg sextet. The 1978-79 Jets captured the WHA's version of the Stanley Cup, The Avco Cup.
That catapulted Tom into the NHL but with a Jets team that had been decimated by an Expansion Draft. In that no-win situation, it was inevitable that McVie would be handed the pink slip that catapulted him on the unemployed coach's line.
While other coaches -- in the same, sorry position -- might have hissed and moaned over their misfortune, Tom made a joke about it.
"I've been fired more times than General Custer's pistol at Little Big Horn."
(It should be noted here that McVie slightly altered that line a few years later when he again was canned as a coach. The newer version went like this: "I've been fired more times than Clint Eastwood's Magnum.")

His repertoire of quips already had been honed to sharpness with an inept Washington Capitals team. Author Glenn Dreyfus featured McVie in several chapters of his book "The Legends of Landover."
Dreyfuss: "No coach ever has been saddled with worse teams than Tommy. Caps, Jets, and Devils during times when they were down. But Tommy had the best lines. After the poor Capitals got beaten in Boston by Don Cherry's Bruins, Cherry mocked McVie's Washington team. But Tommy fired back, "If Don had to coach my Capitals he'd wind up selling Cadillacs in Rochester."
During the 1983-84 season, it had become apparent to one and all -- and that included McVie -- that New Jersey simply was short on talent but long on try. That inspired a more thoughtful team appraisal from the coach.
"Emotion carries you a long way," Tom explained. "But it's a short-term friend. What you need is a long-term companion like talent."
Still, the humor remained. Like Henny Youngman, "King of the One-liners," McVie could knock 'em dead with quick quips of his own. Returning from a road trip, he was asked about it by a Newark News reporter.
"Let me tell you about my hotel," Tom chortled. "My room was so small that when I stuck the key in the lock, I broke the window."
When he got a laugh out of that one, he did an encore. "My room was so small, that I called 'Room Service' and said, 'Send up a room!'"
To the dismay of the press corps, McVie's jokes were terminated along with his job when owner, Dr. John McMullen announced in May 1984 that Doug Carpenter would replace McVie as head mentor.
Reflecting on his downward turn of events, McVie pointed out that it takes more than top goaltending and shrewd coaching to win hockey games.
"You've got to go to the net if you want to score," he asserted and then took his coaching act to the minors.
Never one to sit in the corner and sulk, Tommy returned to his AHL haunts while awaiting another shot in The Show. He could have warbled a chorus of "I'm Bidin' My Time" while coaching the Utica Devils, knowing that his NHL time eventually would come.
Sure enough, in 1990, Devils G.M. Lou Lamoriello renamed McVie New Jersey's head coach. A bit older and smarter, Tommy still was as funny as ever.
When a reporter suggested that coaching is a high-pressure operation, Tommy blunted the negativism with one of his best one-liners.
"What pressure?" he wondered aloud. "I sleep like a baby. Every two hours I wake up and cry!"
There's a song, "Love Is Lovelier The Second Time Around," and so it was during Tommy's second engagement in East Rutherford. For two straight seasons, he led a team to the playoffs, never forgetting that in his life some jokes may fall.
If his coaching reached its NHL peak between 1990 and 1992, so did his laugh meter. In fact, McVie's gags were so good that author Glenn Liebman ran more than a dozen of them in his book, "Hockey Shorts."
Typically, one of Tommy's most succinct lines came after his Devils lost a close encounter despite playing well. And like classic comic Henny ("Take my wife -- please!") Youngman, the coach used Mrs. Mcvie as his foil. Here's the McVie wisecrack Liebman used in his book:
"I'd rather come home and find my wife cheating than to keep losing games like this...At least I could tell her to stop!"
The STOP sign for McVie as an NHL bench leader finally was hoisted by Lamoriello after the 1991-92 season when Tommy was released and replaced by Herb Brooks, hero of the 1980 U.S. Olympic "Miracle On Ice."
Not surprisingly, many media types were dismayed by the news, but not completely surprised. Nor was Tom McVie whose personal commentary on coaching resonated in East Rutherford and around NHL press boxes:
I can be out of town in 20 minutes, 30, if I have stuff at the cleaners!