One of the worst kept secrets in hockey came to a close Sunday afternoon as the Vancouver Canucks officially parted ways with head coach Bruce Boudreau.
Rumours that Boudreau would be replaced with former Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet had been making the rounds in hockey circles for some time now. A fact that Boudreau himself wasn’t oblivious to.
“I’d be a fool to say I don’t know what’s going on,” Boudreau told reporters on Friday. “But like I’ve said before, you come to work, and you realize how great the game is.”
Also gone is assistant coach Trent Cull who was relieved of his duties by the club. In their place, Tocchet will be bringing on former Stanley Cup Champion blue liners Adam Foote and Sergei Gonchar. Foote will serve as an assistant coach while Gonchar will be a defensive development coach with the Canucks moving forward.
It was an emotional night for Boudreau and many Vancouver players Saturday following the team’s 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
The 68 year old was serenaded to chants of “Bruce there it is” as he and the players left the ice as the vast majority of the Canucks fan base and media alike couldn’t help but feel for the outspoken coach who was put in a no win situation in Vancouver.
Boudreau is now the 2nd coach fired by the organization in less than 14 months after taking over for Travis Green in December of 2021.
While Vancouver have had more than their fair share of on ice struggles as they’ve stumbled to an 18-25-3 record, many of the issues come down to roster construction which Boudreau and his staff inherited rather than issues of coaching or structure.
Following his team’s contest vs. the Canucks Friday evening, Avalanche forward Andrew Cogliano let members of the press know how he felt about how the organization appeared to be treating his former coach.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I love Bruce…I think he’s a great man. He cares about players, he cares about his team, and he’s a good coach.”
“I have my thoughts on what’s going on here with him on a personal level, and I don’t think it’s warranted. He’s done a good job throughout the league.”
“We had a lot of success in Anaheim, and I actually attribute a lot of my success in the league to him,” Cogliano continued. “So I owe him a lot. … And I think he’ll come out on top of all this.”
Members of the NHL press corps also didn’t hold back when it came to the Canucks’ less than stellar handling of the coaching situation over the last month.
While Boudreau has yet to officially announce his future plans, it’s widely speculated that should he wish to continue coaching there could be several job openings in the near future which he would be on a short list for.
Sources indicate that Boudreau’s name has been linked to Maple Leafs, Predators, Senators, Panthers, Blue Jackets, and even his former team the Anaheim Ducks since it became apparent that Vancouver wouldn’t be moving forward with him at the helm.
Whether any of these job openings become available in season, or whether there’ll be a flurry of activity in the summer pending the results of the playoffs remains to be seen.
The Canucks will see their first game action under their new coaching regime on January 24th when they play host to the Chicago Blackhawks.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: David. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.