Confirmed with Link: Boucher: to return or not to return, that is the question

[BatherSeason]

I dunno. Another "defensive coach" doesn't sound appealing to me.

Can't we find a coaching staff that can bring a solid all-around team game to the table? A team that focuses on speed, skill, forechecking, puck possession, yet also plays a responsible game and supports one another (aka, forwards helping out the D and vice versa) when we don't have possession?

Relying on pure defense or pure offense just doesn't work in today's game.

Any idea what style Troy Mann coaches? I assume that if he is already under contract for next year that he would be the slam dunk hire. Probably wouldn't require that much of a bump in his salary considering he would probably be extremely excited at his first NHL job. Another cheap hire that will be sold to the fanbase as the most logical hire for the rebuild.

 

[Liver King]

Why the f*** is this guy still an NHL coach.

Fire him.

 

[Senscore]

He's got nothing left to give.


Get him out of here before he permanently ruins our young talent.

 

[Liver King]

This is on Dorion to wake the hell up and do his job. Fire the f***ing coach

 

[branch]

This is on Dorion to wake the hell up and do his job. Fire the ****ing coach

Your mistake is thinking that Pierre has any power to make decisions regarding to hockey ops.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

D'oh & Mel ; Its Boucher or Crawford ; Rather have Boucher and his faults vs the lunatic option.
D'oh already missed the boat on good candidates out of the Q. See Montreal
NCAA coaches are not going to leave mid season
D'oh had the perfect opportunity to bring in some young forward thinking coaches . Get rid the of the entire Boucher/Crawford staff .. and he didn't..
Boucher has not been terrible in bringing along younger players but we see what his nature is and I don't think he can really harmonize that in his head.

 

[God Says No]

Why the **** is this guy still an NHL coach.

Fire him.

Because he's cheap. It's also why we hired him over Boudreau.

 

[swiftwin]

Because he's cheap. It's also why we hired him over Boudreau.

And he's a really good coach

 

[Liver King]

And he's a really good coach

Boucher is a a f***ing garbage coach, absolutely pathetic

cant wait for this clown to be gone

 

[RAFI BOMB]

For whatever it is worth, here is a summary of Boucher's performance as an NHL coach:
Tampa Bay Lightning 2010-2011

• 7th in points
• 8th in goals for with 2.94 GF/G
• 10th in goals against with 2.85 GA/G
• 6th in PP at 20.5%
• 8th in PK at 83.8%
• 7th in shots for per game
• 6th in shots against per game

Tampa Bay Lightning 2011-2012

• 22nd in points
• 8th in goals for with 2.83 GF/G
• 30th in goals against with 3.39 GA/G
• 25th in PP at 15.2%
• 26 in PK at 79.2%
• 28th in shots for per game
• 17th in shots against per game

Tampa Bay Lightning 2012-2013 (Fired after 31 games - Below is summary of those games coached)

• 27th in points
• 2nd in goals for with 3.26 GF/G
• 25th in goals against with 3.03 GA/G
• 16th in PP at 18.3%
• 11th in PK with 82.8%
• 28th in shots for
• 20th in shots against

Ottawa Senators 2016-2017

• 12th in points
• 22nd in goals for with 2.51 GF/G
• 10th in goals against with 2.56 GA/G
• 23rd in PP at 17%
• 22nd PK at 79.7%
• 17th in shots per game
• 15th in shots against per game

Ottawa Senators 2017-2018

• 30th in points
• 25th in goals for with 2.67 GF/G
• 30th in goals against with 3.46 GA/G
• 27th in PP at 16.6%
• 26th in PK at 76.2%
• 24th in shots for per game
• 25th in shots against per game

Ottawa Senators 2018-2019

• 22nd in points
• 7th in goals for with 3.29 GF/G
• 31st in goals against with 3.88 GA/G
• 12th in PP at 21.7%
• 28th in PK at 74.5%
• 25th in shots per game
• 31st in shots against per game

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

All the complaints about the Coach, this season, at the beginning of a rebuild, to me, is just a waste of time.

No one, with a modicum of commonsense, should have thought the Senators would be competing for a playoff spot this season.

I don't understand the logic behind the calls to fire the Coach during the season.

What for, is it to turn around a team that was expected to make the playoffs, like in Edmonton?

The Senators are in the first year of their current rebuild. Did any team, fire their Coach, mid season, in the first year of their rebuild?

The GM gave his Coach a new mandate in the off season, and that was to play and develop the young prospects in the system, at the NHL level, and give them the playing time ........ and he's done this.

For this he should be fired?

PD is not going to fire GB this season, and I'd be willing to bet that he brings him back for next season.

 

[JD1]

I tend to agree with the count here.....seems boucher is doing what he's been asked to do and it seems on that front that it's working out well. we're getting a lot of productivity out of some young players and a lot of them are getting some quality opportunities

I'm not really a huge Boucher fan but it'd be difficult to argue he isn't doing what he's been asked to do.

I think what the team needs is to replace all of the assistant staff next year which will happen if Boucher is gone ajyway

 

[BondraTime]

All the complaints about the Coach, this season, at the beginning of a rebuild, to me, is just a waste of time.

No one, with a modicum of commonsense, should have thought the Senators would be competing for a playoff spot this season.

I don't understand the logic behind the calls to fire the Coach during the season.

What for, is it to turn around a team that was expected to make the playoffs, like in Edmonton?

The Senators are in the first year of their current rebuild. Did any team, fire their Coach, mid season, in the first year of their rebuild?

The GM gave his Coach a new mandate in the off season, and that was to play and develop the young prospects in the system, at the NHL level, and give them the playing time ........ and he's done this.

For this he should be fired?

PD is not going to fire GB this season, and I'd be willing to bet that he brings him back for next season.

No one expected to make the playoffs with a new coach either.

People do expect the new coach to make correct decisions.

When a coach continually makes questionable, at best, decisions (11-7, turtle with lead, constant line changes, line construction, not adapting to changes in game) that is why he should be fired, or at the very least criticised for. This isn't new, this has been a running theme with his teams for the past decade.

Of course he's allowed the kids to play and develop...name me he options he had other than the kids? Carey?

Pageau, Brass, EK, Oduya, Gaborik, Thompson, Burrows, Hoff, DiDo, Dumont, and Phaneuf are all guys that are not in the line-up this year, and we replaced them with Tierny, Demelo and Boedker. That's 8 open roster spots that literally needed to be filled by rookies and young AHL tweeners. Not exactly "a change in philosophy" that is being touted by people here, it was inevitable and literally had to happen to ice enough guys for a roster.

It's not that "He's changed and is doing what is asked of him".

It's "He's doing the only possible thing he can do with the players available to him"

If there were actually guys available to him like as Thompson/Dumont/etc. at the beginning of the season, there would be rookie casualties, of that I am sure.

Of course you're going to play rookies when you need to in order to ice a roster.

Him proving he's changed his ways would be playing a guy like Chabot last year in the situation we were in.

Playing Lajoie/Tkachuk/White/etc. because the other options are Paul Carey, Jack Rodewald and.....Sieloff? Wolanin? Yeah, that doesn't show me anything other than the fact we had no options.

 

[Fandlauer]

The lineup we've given Boucher is dogshit. I don't know what people expect. I'm impressed were not dead last tbh.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

And he's a really good coach

Well whether he’s a good coach or not is debateable definitely. But he’s a terrible head coach.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

The lineup we've given Boucher is dog****. I don't know what people expect. I'm impressed were not dead last tbh.

Last year he had Hoffman and karlsson plus players he specifically requested in pyatt and Thompson. Tampa gave him a preeeeeettty good roster as wel.

Edit: oh shit I forgot dumont lmfao.

One whole quarter of his forwards were guys he was basically like “I need these players for this team to be successful.”

 

[DaveMatthew]

All the complaints about the Coach, this season, at the beginning of a rebuild, to me, is just a waste of time.

No one, with a modicum of commonsense, should have thought the Senators would be competing for a playoff spot this season.

I don't understand the logic behind the calls to fire the Coach during the season.

What for, is it to turn around a team that was expected to make the playoffs, like in Edmonton?

The Senators are in the first year of their current rebuild. Did any team, fire their Coach, mid season, in the first year of their rebuild?

The GM gave his Coach a new mandate in the off season, and that was to play and develop the young prospects in the system, at the NHL level, and give them the playing time ........ and he's done this.

For this he should be fired?

PD is not going to fire GB this season, and I'd be willing to bet that he brings him back for next season.

Most teams replace their coach and GM before a rebuild, recognizing that the people who got you into the mess are probably not the ones who'll get you out of it.

 

[GCK]

This is on Dorion to wake the hell up and do his job. Fire the ****ing coach

He will be gone after the season. Personally I don’t like in season firings as it limits the hiring options.

My opinion is Dorion wanted to fire Boucher and his staff at the end of last season but Melnyk quashed it.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Last year he had Hoffman and karlsson plus players he specifically requested in pyatt and Thompson. Tampa gave him a preeeeeettty good roster as wel.

Edit: oh **** I forgot dumont lmfao.

One whole quarter of his forwards were guys he was basically like “I need these players for this team to be successful.”

If we’re gonna have to make roster decisions based on Boucher’s goofy coaching style we should probably let him go. Bring in a coach with a reputation for developing young talent.

 

[Larionov]

Good God people, get a hold of yourselves. You could bring back Toe Blake from the dead and he couldn't have coaxed much more out of that young, injury riddled, road weary lineup last night. That was a scheduled loss - you could have called it in September, even before we lost a key veteran to a blown Achilles during #$%$ing fitness testing.

I actually like Crawford, and part of me would like to see him as Head Coach just to watch his volcanic eruptions on the officials. Seriously, though, the smart play here is to let Boucher finish the year, do the exit interviews, and decide from there. Canning the coach now does nothing but create uncertainty for the young guys...

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

The lineup we've given Boucher is dog****. I don't know what people expect. I'm impressed were not dead last tbh.

This is a good point. I haven’t been impressed with Boucher and his defensive side along with some decisions this season but as you point out we’re actually not dead last so.

 

[Xspyrit]

I like Boucher as a hockey mind but not as a head coach, maybes he’s just not made for that. He could maybe do fine as an assistant coach in charge of the PP for example but while this team shouldn’t be expected to make the playoffs, they could do much better if they were lead by an entire different vision. I don’t know how people can look at this and think it’s working out and the coaching staff is not a problem. I’ve seen much worse rosters do much better over the years countless times (not just talking about the W/L column)

Dear God look at Montreal roster, their defense for example. They have Weber yes but he’s not in his prime anymore (we have Chabot), they have Petry who is like a Ceci but better offensively, and after that they have Jordie Benn, Brett Kulak, Mike Reilly and Noah Juulsen for Christ sake and yet they seem to do much better. Jaros and Lajoie might be rookies but have much better ability than any of them; sure Falk and Harpur should not be dressed (with DeMelo injury) but are they much worse than those 4 guys? Put them in Ottawa system and they will all struggle mightily

All the wins the Sens have gotten are on skill alone (except maybe 3-4 games with a complete team effort) because overall it’s a terrible hockey team despite many quality players. And we saw that last year as well. Duchene, Stone, Hoffman, Dzingel, Ryan, Brassard, Pageau, Karlsson, Chabot, etc : second last in the league.

This team isn’t going anywhere with this coaching staff. Boucher and co would at least need Tampa roster to make the playoffs.

Why would Stone, Dzingel, Duchene and even Ceci want to stay? Is there an ownership (so different GM) change coming up and they know it? What is the plan for the coaching staff? Why would they play any other way than for their individual stats?

I don’t even care about the wins at this point, it’s the way they play that has gotten me totally uninterested. Heck during the worst year in the Murray era, the shot differential was like - 2 but corsi was much much closer and people were talking about being « dominated » almost all the time, but this year it’s like 4-5 times worse than that. And I’m not even a big « advanced stats tell the whole story » guy, but there’s gotta be a limit. It’s not just about shots and corsi, which isn’t all that important when the difference is not huge but they now get dominated in scoring chances and high danger chances too.

 

[HSF]

The roster is so trash

The defense itself is one of the worst if the worst

We lost our generational defensemen and replaced him with lajoie

 

[Burrowsaurus]

I like Boucher as a hockey mind but not as a head coach, maybes he’s just not made for that. He could maybe do fine as an assistant coach in charge of the PP for example but while this team shouldn’t be expected to make the playoffs, they could do much better if they were lead by an entire different vision. I don’t know how people can look at this and think it’s working out and the coaching staff is not a problem. I’ve seen much worse rosters do much better over the years countless times (not just talking about the W/L column)

Dear God look at Montreal roster, their defense for example. They have Weber yes but he’s not in his prime anymore (we have Chabot), they have Petry who is like a Ceci but better offensively, and after that they have Jordie Benn, Brett Kulak, Mike Reilly and Noah Juulsen for Christ sake and yet they seem to do much better. Jaros and Lajoie might be rookies but have much better ability than any of them; sure Falk and Harpur should not be dressed (with DeMelo injury) but are they much worse than those 4 guys? Put them in Ottawa system and they will all struggle mightily

All the wins the Sens have gotten are on skill alone (except maybe 3-4 games with a complete team effort) because overall it’s a terrible hockey team despite many quality players. And we saw that last year as well. Duchene, Stone, Hoffman, Dzingel, Ryan, Brassard, Pageau, Karlsson, Chabot, etc : second last in the league.

This team isn’t going anywhere with this coaching staff. Boucher and co would at least need Tampa roster to make the playoffs.

Why would Stone, Dzingel, Duchene and even Ceci want to stay? Is there an ownership (so different GM) change coming up and they know it? What is the plan for the coaching staff? Why would they play any other way than for their individual stats?

I don’t even care about the wins at this point, it’s the way they play that has gotten me totally uninterested. Heck during the worst year in the Murray era, the shot differential was like - 2 but corsi was much much closer and people were talking about being « dominated » almost all the time, but this year it’s like 4-5 times worse than that. And I’m not even a big « advanced stats tell the whole story » guy, but there’s gotta be a limit. It’s not just about shots and corsi, which isn’t all that important when the difference is not huge but they now get dominated in scoring chances and high danger chances too.

Man. We agree.

 

[JD1]

No one expected to make the playoffs with a new coach either.

People do expect the new coach to make correct decisions.

When a coach continually makes questionable, at best, decisions (11-7, turtle with lead, constant line changes, line construction, not adapting to changes in game) that is why he should be fired, or at the very least criticised for. This isn't new, this has been a running theme with his teams for the past decade.

Of course he's allowed the kids to play and develop...name me he options he had other than the kids? Carey?

Pageau, Brass, EK, Oduya, Gaborik, Thompson, Burrows, Hoff, DiDo, Dumont, and Phaneuf are all guys that are not in the line-up this year, and we replaced them with Tierny, Demelo and Boedker. That's 8 open roster spots that literally needed to be filled by rookies and young AHL tweeners. Not exactly "a change in philosophy" that is being touted by people here, it was inevitable and literally had to happen to ice enough guys for a roster.

It's not that "He's changed and is doing what is asked of him".

It's "He's doing the only possible thing he can do with the players available to him"

If there were actually guys available to him like as Thompson/Dumont/etc. at the beginning of the season, there would be rookie casualties, of that I am sure.

Of course you're going to play rookies when you need to in order to ice a roster.

Him proving he's changed his ways would be playing a guy like Chabot last year in the situation we were in.

Playing Lajoie/Tkachuk/White/etc. because the other options are Paul Carey, Jack Rodewald and.....Sieloff? Wolanin? Yeah, that doesn't show me anything other than the fact we had no options.

it's not exactly 8 open roster spots. you listed a couple of guys that played 20 games worth of spot duty and some that were acquired for others so 11-3 in this instance isn't 8.

to me there's nothing wrong with the deployment of the young guys so far this season. it'd be tough to pUT together a credible argument that someone else could come in and get more out of the kids. an equal amount sure, but more I don't know how one could argue that.

line juggling, reliance on Pyatt, reliance on Boro....those are valid criticisms imo.

guys here clamored for youth. this is what it looks like. and some of the issue this year is young guys not being physically strong enough....which hopefully corrects itself for next year considering we're going to get an early summer start