I've been a bit conflicted with my thoughts on the whole situation the last few days. Now that it's done, I think I've figured myself out.
-They had to bring Bruce back based on last season's success. It's a no-win situation if they don't.
-The public comments by management bashing Boudreau were completely unnecessary and served no purpose. I can appreciate their honesty and frustration at the situation, but you need to filter yourself better than that. This is the most egregious thing they did, in my opinion.
-No problem with the team doing their diligence with other coaches this year. That it got public is unfortunate, but even still it's fine if handled appropriately.
-Aquilini is awful, but I think the attacks on him are mostly unwarranted on this specific issue only. He spent money on a President to handle the situation, and JR failed him with the previous comments and also this next part.
-The presser last week was handled poorly by JR. The cat was out of the bag at that point and some honesty and compassion towards Bruce would have gone a long way with the fan base. Another awful job by JR.
-Would have liked some more questions regarding the communication between Bruce/JR at that presser from the media. But ultimately, JR could have done more to help himself.
-The part of all this I'm a bit unsure about still is the role of the media here. For the most part, they are just doing their jobs. There is a frustrated fanbase here and I think the local media found something fans actually cared about and then pushed it really hard. The fans did their part, and then the rest of hockey media piled on and made it even bigger. This is fairly common in media.. but not hockey. Again, not really sure what to think about this part. In this case I think the media blowing it up led to something mostly good. But I know it's the same tactics that get people cancelled or railroaded and I'm not completely okay with that.
-Coach Bruce hasn't done a good job this year. He deserved to be fired. I also think Coach Bruce wanted to coach every game he could and he got to do that. Lots of respect from me for his career, but it was time to go.
-This is where I go back to the media/fan frenzy and why it's a bit insane to me. Other than JR's comments earlier this year and the lack of support at the press conference, the team did almost nothing wrong. They looked for a new coach. Bruce wanted to coach until the end, and he did.
-Bruce the person got put in a tough situation, but his firing was always going to be tough. It just ended up being more public because he was constantly bombarded with the media questions about it. I don't blame the media for that, I blame management mishandling the story.
-Personally, the "Bruce there it is" chants have been lame as hell since the beginning. I don't subscribe to coach worship and it bothers me when the fans are chanting for the coach after EP makes a nice play or Demko makes a nice save. All that being said, it was obvious Bruce really appreciated it the last two nights. Our fanbase can be a bit messy at times - I mean, there was a jersey toss for the first home game - but I think it was great to support Bruce given the situation.
-Overall, what a weird end to the Bruce chapter. We approached circus territory which we haven't had in awhile. I feel exhausted as a fan and am glad that chapter is over.
-I'm excited for the Tocchet era. This team needs an on-ice overhaul and it starts with the coach.