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

[aligator]

You mean his brother, Troy?

Yes it's likely

Yes. My mistake. I meant to say Troy.

 

[aligator]

This shouldn't make anyone feel better. The whole concept of "short leash" is a joke, it just cripples the team right from the beginning of the season. Either bring him back for the whole year or don't being him back at all. Firing him midseason to just hand the gig to Crawford is just setting Crawford up to fail from the outset.

At least in Habs Land they recognized that their coaching staff needed some change and they did hit. Here, Melnyk just doesn't want to pay any new staff, so they don't.

Say bye to Karlsson. Duchene and Stone should just follow suit as well, this organization is going nowhere with Dorion/Melnyk running things.

EK is indeed on the way out imo but Duchene and Stone will be staying.

 

[HSF]

Boucher deserves to start next season. Weather you like Boucher and dorion or not they helped take this team to the ECF closer than we have been since 2008. He may have a short leash but he deserves another crack at this

The best version I have seen of karlsson (defensively and offensively) was under boucher

 

[Gil Gunderson]

“When you finish 30th some changes need to be made”

*rumors about moving Karlsson and hoffman*

 

[salomonster]

I for one am happy they didn't can the coaching staff.

Enough of the circus. This stability should help moving forward.

This franchise has gone through too many coaches to clean house after 1 bad year.

The onus needs to go on the players.

I'm not a fan of some of the moves and wakadoodling ownership/management. But I think PD got this one right.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDoo]

I for one am happy they didn't can the coaching staff.

Enough of the circus. This stability should help moving forward.

This franchise has gone through too many coaches to clean house after 1 bad year.

The onus needs to go on the players.

I'm not a fan of some of the moves and wakadoodling ownership/management. But I think PD got this one right.

wakadoodling?

 

[HSF]

“When you finish 30th some changes need to be made”

*rumors about moving Karlsson and hoffman*

ya god forbid the players not be held accountable. Is losing Methot the reason we went from ECF to 2nd last?

So many years we have changed coaches its time for the players to sack up. This is a roster that should have been competing

 

[Langdon Alger]

Who ran the PP last year?

A monkey. He ran the PK too.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

ya god forbid the players not be held accountable. Is losing Methot the reason we went from ECF to 2nd last?

So many years we have changed coaches its time for the players to sack up. This is a roster that should have been competing

The only changes we dare to make are ones that save the team money.

 

[Ray Kinsella]

I hate the idea of a lame-duck coach.

Knowing how close Boucher was to being fired this spring, I have a hard time taking him seriously and all I have to do is watch the games. The players have to take orders from this guy, whose fitness for the job has essentially been under public scrutiny by management.

Ugh. Here's hoping for a miracle.

Edit: Wasn't Vigneault just fired? He seems like the type who might actually accept a job in Ottawa and has a pretty decent track-record between the Nucks and Rangers.

I don't know much about him aside from that he loves Tanner Glass and Dan Girardi (?).

I believe Vignault go a 2yr extension at 2M a season or something to that effect.

He was AC for Ottawa during the first few years. Very decent guy. I could see him taking the job if the opportunity was there IMO. I can’t really eveluate him as a HC though.

 

[HSF]

The only changes we dare to make are ones that save the team money.

not exactly. We finally have a legit top line center

too bad the players wasted away a year

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

ya god forbid the players not be held accountable. Is losing Methot the reason we went from ECF to 2nd last?

So many years we have changed coaches its time for the players to sack up. This is a roster that should have been competing

Why are you under the impression this is the same group of players as previous coaches? Since Cameron we've seen half his roster change over. Zibanejad, Methot, Turris, Wiercioch, Cowen, Hammond, Michalek, Phaneuf, MacArthur, Prince, Neil, Lazar and Chiasson have all moved on. From last year's team Wingels, Kelly, Stalberg and Brassard are all gone.

The players never changing or being the constant is a false narrative unless you are specifically targeting a group of maybe 3 players who've been around longer than 5 years in Smith, Karlsson and Anderson.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Dorion needs to keep his mouth shut.

How he's handled the Karlsson and Boucher situations is enough grounds for firing, IMO. In the last 4 months he's publicly explored trading the franchise player and sewered his own coach in the media.

But they're both going to come back next year and everything will be rosy?

What a joke.

He has a bigger ego than Scotty Bowman and is on a power trip, trying to show everyone who's the "boss". "Pierre Dorion" makes the hockey decisions, after all.

Boucher has no leverage, but if I'm Karlsson, Duchene and Stone, I'm getting away from this franchise ASAP. You look around the league and see guys like Yzerman, Poile and Shanahan running organizations, and we get two clowns.

 

[Ray Kinsella]

wakadoodling?

Lollygagging...

 

[Sensung]

Dorion needs to keep his mouth shut.

How he's handled the Karlsson and Boucher situations is enough grounds for firing, IMO. In the last 4 months he's publicly explored trading the franchise player and sewered his own coach in the media.

But they're both going to come back next year and everything will be rosy?

What a joke.

He has a bigger ego than Scotty Bowman and is on a power trip, trying to show everyone who's the "boss". "Pierre Dorion" makes the hockey decisions, after all.

Boucher has no leverage, but if I'm Karlsson, Duchene and Stone, I'm getting away from this franchise ASAP. You look around the league and see guys like Yzerman, Poile and Shanahan running organizations, and we get two clowns.

Good post.

Do more, talk less.

 

[Punchbowl]

So many years we have changed coaches its time for the players to sack up. This is a roster that should have been competing

People say this like it's the players who are entirely at fault for our coaching carousel, but our most recent coaches were ousted in part because they did something to offend management.

- MacLean was tossed after he commented something along the lines of "I'm afraid to put some of these guys on the ice," which upset Murray.

- Judging from Melnyk's raving on the radio, Dave Cameron pissed him off for several reasons (one of them being that he started Matt O'Connor in an important game).

- From the sounds of it, Boucher has also been annoying Dorion with his handling of younger players and infrequent practices.

The players are part of it, but these coaches seem to routinely piss off everyone involved, including management.

 

[starling]

Karlsson, Chabot, Stone, Hoffman and Duchene is elite PP unit. The fact that our coaching staff have been running one of the worst powerplays in the league with this unit for 2 straight years says a lot about their coaching abilities in general IMO.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

This team is just 1 disappointment after another.

The script is already written. Following in our footsteps.

We never learn if it entails is spending money.

This organization is a complete joke.

Agreed. Blunder after blunder. This is another mistake to chalk up for Doh - rion

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Really hoping for some nepotism and Mann to come in. That would be marvelous.

Interesting that Boucher is taking over the PP next year. Should finally find out if his reputation as a PP guy was actually earned or not.

2 years of ineptness and he will fix it now.. I can't believe a control freak like Boucher was never significantly involved in the PP yet.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Good

He had a bad, bad year but he should be given the chance to rebound

The leash better be very short though. The other thing is who do we think could be available if we do fire him early?

 

[Philadelphia Collins]

Giving Boucher AND his assistants their jobs back...lmao. The PK and PP were 27th in the league, what an utter joke.

The season we don’t have a 1st rounder is not the season to give your horrible coach and his brutal assistants a “30 game trial”

I just want to check twitter once this year to good Ottawa Senators news lol

 

[albator71]

Sure, it's Karlsson's fault. Not the guy who implented the entire broken system that doesn't fit the talents of the players on the team.

Nothing surprises me anymore.

Its funny but the system seemed to be fine the season before?

 

[albator71]

I agree, but at the same time, there were some obvious issues that needed to get addressed and weren't. Crawford was supposed to be the strong voice that could guide Boucher when things went adrift, and imo a more experienced GM could have provided some guidance/direction. Dorion could have pushed the practice issue and playing the rookies mid season instead of in the off-season, for example, Crawford should have been able to point the team away from going into the defensive shell so early (and in OT early in the season, what the heck was that, playing not to lose in OT was bizarre)

You make some valid point Micklebot, and i agree with you, im sure if Boucher doesn't make the necessary adjustment next season then its on him and should be fired.

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

WE COULDNT AT LEAST GET NEW ASSISTANTS TO (try to) FIX SPECIAL TEAMS?
**** right off

Thats what I don't understand. Boucher . . . fine . . . but get new assistants at least.

 

[BonkTastic]

I'm not worried that Boucher is necessarily a bad coach.

I'm worried that he's completely lost the room.