Drafted by the Washington Capitals in 1974, John Paddock spent most of his playing career as a hard-nosed forward in the American Hockey League.
He scored 26 goals and racked up 206 penalty minutes during his rookie season with the Richmond Robins and skated for a season with the Springfield Indians, but his greatest on-ice successes came with the Maine Mariners. Paddock played parts of seven seasons in Portland, winning Calder Cup championships in 1978 and 1979 and hitting the 30-goal plateau on two separate occasions.
Playing for coaches Larry Wilson, Bob McCammon, Pat Quinn and Tom McVie in the AHL, Paddock also honed his own skills as a hockey educator and prepared himself for a future behind the bench. He was just 27 years old when he made his first foray into coaching in 1981-82, and he played the first six weeks of the 1983-84 season with Maine before trading in his skates for a whistle full-time, taking over the Mariners when Tom McVie was promoted to New Jersey. The Mariners finished third in the division that season but stormed through the playoffs and captured the franchise’s third Calder Cup.
McVie returned to Maine in 1984-85 and retained Paddock as his co-coach, and the duo led the Mariners to a division title. Paddock was then hired by Frank Mathers to guide the storied Hershey Bears, and one of the winningest stretches in franchise history ensued. Paddock led the Bears to two division crowns, the first 50-win season in club history and a place in AHL annals with a perfect postseason in 1988 as Hershey went 12-0 en route to the Calder Cup. Paddock also won the Louis A.R. Pieri Award as the AHL’s outstanding coach in 1987-88.
After four seasons coaching Philadelphia’s top prospects in Hershey, Paddock was promoted to assistant general manager of the Flyers, a position he held for a year before returning to the AHL as head coach of the Binghamton Rangers in 1990-91. Another successful AHL campaign earned the Oak River, Man., native the position of head coach and later GM of the Winnipeg Jets, and he remained with the organization through their move to Phoenix in 1996.
After two seasons scouting for the New York Rangers, Paddock returned to coaching in 1999-2000 and promptly led the Hartford Wolf Pack to the best record in the AHL during the regular season and the Calder Cup title, becoming the first coach ever to win the AHL championship with three different teams.
He returned to Binghamton in 2002 and spent three seasons with the Senators’ new affiliate there before being promoted to Ottawa in 2005. Paddock was back in the AHL as head coach of the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2008-09, and had another brief stint with the Phantoms in Adirondack in 2010-11.
With his career record of 590-438-98, Paddock places third on the AHL’s all-time list of coaching wins and games coached (1,126), and only Bun Cook has more Calder Cups won as a coach than Paddock’s three. He has never missed the postseason in 14 tries as an AHL head coach, and his 82 playoff wins and 149 playoff games coached both stand as league records.