Boudreau Wants Wild To Be Final Coaching Stop
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) — The new coach of the Minnesota Wild says he's ready for the challenge.
Bruce Boudreau said at his introductory news conference on Tuesday that the Wild have been a tough team and he's excited to see what they can do.
Head coaching is a fickle business. Boudreau, a self-described hockey lifer, is here as the Wild's new head coach only because of the lack of success his previous teams had in game 7s, which are often a matter of luck as much as skill.
Boudreau brings a wealth of hockey experience, having played and coached at practically every level and has eight divisional titles in nine years of head coaching in the NHL. But the reason he was being introduced on the floor of Xcel Energy Center over the noon hour Tuesdasy was because his Anaheim Ducks lost in seven games to Nashville.
Despite winning four straight divisional titles there, he was fired. But he has rarely stayed unemployed for long.
"When I got fired my wife says 'You'd better get a job in hurry.' She doesn't want me hanging around the house, so I've been lucky," Boudreau said. "The Anaheim one, I was the best man at their director of player personnel's wedding so I phoned him up and the timing perfect. They were in the transition period, so that worked out really well. I think this is, again, timing."
Boudreau's offensive style of coaching should be more pleasing to the fans and to the players. The big question is do they have the right players to play offense at a high level?