Bruce Boudreau has had himself a week. Fired by the Capitals on Monday, ending a four-years plus run of incredible highs and excruciating lows, he suddenly finds himself….the new head coach of the Anaheim Ducks.
Now that’s a bounce back. Boudreau replaced Randy Carlyle, who was fired after his team thrashed the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night at home. His entire staff was canned, too. Just guessing – but former Caps assistant Bob Woods probably won’t be out of work long, either. One assistant has been hired already – AHL Syracuse head coach Brad Lauer. Seriously, pro sports is nuts sometimes.
Boudreau inherits a situation similar to the one he took on upon arriving in Washington on Thanksgiving Day, 2007. At the time, the Caps were 6-14-1 with 13 standings points. They had the worst record in the NHL, but were only nine points out of a playoff spot. By the end of the season they had won the Southeast Division title, taken Philadelphia to Game 7 in a first-round Stanley Cup playoff series and Boudreau had won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year.
This time, the Ducks are underachieving at 7-13-4 with 18 points. They rank 14th in the Western Conference through 24 games and are 10 points out of a playoff position. That’s going to be a tough road, especially for a team that seems woefully unbalanced. But there is plenty of talent at the top of the lineup with Ryan Getzlaf, last year’s NHL MVP Corey Perry and – if he isn’t traded – 24-year-old winger Bobby Ryan. Not to mention veterans like Jason Blake, Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne.
Maybe Anaheim is too far gone. But – much like George McPhee’s reasoning for dismissing Boudreau in the first place – general manager Bob Murray decided his team needed a new voice. They’ve got one. And a guy who knows how to take over in mid-stream and rebuild a team’s shattered confidence. Won’t hurt that Boudreau’s got a practice at home on Thursday and then three home games over the next week to get settled.
Boudreau’s teams were a combined 201-88-40 record in Washington and each of the past two seasons finished with the most standings points in the Eastern Conference. But repeated postseason failures, including a stunning upset to No. 8 seed Montreal in the first round of the 2009-10 playoffs, put Boudreau under immense pressure despite his sparkling regular-season record.
Boudreau had been with the organization since the start of the 2005-06 season. He coached Washington’s AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, to two Calder Cup finals appearances, winning the title in 2006 and losing in 2007. In all, Boudreau coached nine years in the AHL and spent the majority of his playing career in that league, where he is enshrined in its Hall of Fame. He remains one of the AHL’s all-time leading scorers, ranking 16th all-time in goals (316), 12th in assists (483) and 11th in points (799). But Boudreau also spent parts of eight NHL seasons with his hometown Maple Leafs and the Chicago Blackhawks. In 141 career NHL games he totaled 28 goals, 42 assists and 70 points.
Boudreau coached Washington to the Presidents’ Trophy in 2009-10 after it led the NHL in standings points that season. That team set the franchise record for wins (54) and points (121) and was the league’s highest-scoring team (3.82 goals per game). Only Bryan Murray has more wins (343) amongst Caps coaches than Boudreau’s 201. But his points percentage (.672) is by far the best in team history and second among NHL coaches with at least 200 games. Only San Jose’s Todd McLellan (.680) is better.
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