Known as Captain Video because of his technological contributions to the game, he is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame in the builder category.
Alongside his decorated coaching abilities, Neilson is commonly remembered today for his many antics which resulted in the creation of several NHL rules.
Neilson's entry into the National Hockey League (NHL) came in 1977 with the Toronto Maple Leafs, when he was hired to replace Red Kelly as the head coach of the team.
But a Neilson-coached team fell short of expectations once again, as the Flyers were ousted by the New Jersey Devils in seven games in the Eastern Conference championship round.
The peak and valley of Neilson's stay with the Rangers came in the 1991–92 season, when they captured the Presidents' Trophy with the best record in the league.
The Rangers entered the playoffs as prohibitive favorites to win their first Stanley Cup since 1940, only to be eliminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games in the Patrick Division finals.
Neilson's reputation as a so-called old school coach was put under a microscope in Game 2 of the series, when Rangers player Adam Graves fractured the left metacarpal bone of Penguins superstar Mario Lemieux with a two-handed baseball swing of his stick.
Graves stated that he was swinging on the glove to loosen his grip on the stick to deal with the puck, which reflected Neilson's belief for one to go for the hands.
During the 1987–88 and 1988–89 seasons, Neilson did not coach but served as a color commentator for TSN with Jim Hughson and Gary Green.
On February 20, 2000, Neilson went on medical leave for cancer treatment, and assistant coach Craig Ramsay took over in his absence.
His reasoning was that if the other team gained possession of the puck, it would be virtually impossible for the opposition to score from their end in the mere seconds that were left.
Realizing that more penalties could not be served under the existing rules, Neilson intentionally put too many men on the ice every ten seconds.
In addition, Neilson also took advantage of fans throwing objects onto the ice to deliberately cause stoppages of play late in a game.
After these displays, the rules were changed so that a call for too many men on the ice in a five on three situation, or a delay-of-game penalty in a five on three situation, or any deliberate act to stop play (i.e., objects thrown on the ice, or the net being intentionally dislodged) in the last two minutes of regulation or in overtime now results in a penalty shot.
One game during a time-out, Neilson told his goaltender, "...when we pull you, just leave your goal stick lying in the crease."
When the other team gained possession, they sent the puck the length of the ice toward the open net, only to deflect wide when it hit the goal stick lying in the crease.
As the Canucks coach during game two of the 1982 Campbell Conference Final playoff series against the Chicago Blackhawks, he felt his team was unfairly penalized on several occasions during the third period.
Canucks fans waved white towels by the thousands at the next game, a playoff tradition that continues to this day and is widely copied by other hockey teams.
The name was chosen because of Neilson's commitment to teaching, which exemplified the qualities of the Character Education program of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board.
[29] On April 7, 2011, Rogers Arena in Vancouver commemorated Neilson's contribution to the NHL and Vancouver Canucks, in particular to the tradition he created during the 1982 playoff series with the Chicago Blackhawks, later named "Towel Power", by erecting a large statue of him in the courtyard of Rogers Arena.