Boudreau played professional hockey for 17 seasons. While his major professional career was modest, he had a long career in the minor leagues, and was one of the most prolific minor league scorers of all time, largely in the American Hockey League (AHL).
After being drafted to the NHL in the third round, 42nd overall, by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boudreau could not agree with Toronto on a contract and joined the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the WHA, making his professional debut in 1975. He played a single season for the Fighting Saints, scoring 3 goals and 6 assists over 30 games. He spent half that season in the minors, with the Johnstown Jets of the North American Hockey League (NAHL).
Boudreau played parts of eight seasons in the NHL, all but the last – a seven-game stint for the Chicago Black Hawks in 1985–86 season – for the Maple Leafs. His most significant NHL time came in 1980–81; called up as an injury replacement with the Maple Leafs, he scored 10 goals and 14 assists in only 39 games. During his time in the NHL, Boudreau scored a lifetime 28 goals and 42 assists in 141 games.
He continued on as a minor league star and top scorer right through his final 1991–92 AHL season. His final game came in Springfield when – after a full IHL season with the Fort Wayne Komets – he was signed by the AHL's Adirondack Red Wings as an emergency injury replacement during their first round Calder Cup playoff series against the Indians.
Hockey-related endeavours
At the start of his professional career, while a member of the Johnstown Jets of the NAHL, Boudreau appeared as an extra in the 1977 hockey film Slap Shot; his apartment at the time was used in the film for Paul Newman's character, coach of the fictional Charlestown Chiefs.[5]
He has joined the NHL Network as an analyst when he is not coaching.[7][8]
Personal life
Boudreau is married to Crystal, with whom he has one son. Boudreau has three other children; two sons and a daughter from his first marriage.[9] In 1982 Boudreau started the Golden Horseshoe Hockey School, a youth summer hockey camp operating out of St. Catharines, Ontario, which he continues to coach with in the off-seasons.[9]
Boudreau has been a supporter of the Toronto Maple Leafs since childhood, and admits that he still cheers for the club when the team does not face off against a squad that he is actively coaching, and watches Maple Leafs games on television when he is able to.[10]
Boudreau is known for his talkative personality, earning him the nickname "Gabby". In 2009, he released his memoir, Gabby: Confessions of a Hockey Lifer.[11]
Boudreau's son, Ben, was named Head Coach of the OHL'sNiagara IceDogs in November 2023 after 4 seasons coaching in the ECHL.[12]
Playing achievements
Boudreau remains the 16th leading all-time goal scorer in the AHL with 316, also currently 13th in assists with 483, and 12th in points with 799. For the minor leagues as a whole, Boudreau is 8th all time with 1,368 points, and 13th in both goals and assists with 548 and 820 respectively; he is in the top 25 all-time scorers for professional hockey.
Scored 100 points or more for five separate minor league teams.
Under Boudreau's leadership, the Bears won the 2006 AHL Calder Cup championship. The Bears made it all the way back to the Calder Cup finals under Coach Boudreau again in 2007, ultimately falling to the Hamilton Bulldogs.
Previously, Boudreau coached the Mississippi Sea Wolves to the ECHL Championship in 1999, and also led the Fort Wayne Komets to the IHL Finals in 1994. Boudreau was awarded the Commissioner's Trophy (IHL) as coach of the 1993–94 Komets.
Boudreau was named interim head coach of the NHL's Washington Capitals on November 22, 2007, and later their permanent coach on December 26. He compiled a 37–17–7 rookie coaching record with a team that was 6–14–1 when he inherited it. Under Boudreau's leadership, the 2007–08 Capitals won their first Southeast Division title in seven years and made the playoffs for the first time in five years. He also won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's best coach in 2008.[14]
Boudreau continued his success in his second season as coach of the Capitals, leading the Capitals to a record of 50–24–8 and 108 points, good enough for another Southeast Division title and second in the Eastern Conference.
In his third season with the Capitals, Boudreau led the team to a 54–15–13 record and 121 points, which was not only good enough for a third straight Southeast Division title, but also was the most points in the NHL, leading to the team's first Presidents' Trophy. Their success in the regular season, however, did not carry over to the postseason, as they lost to the eighth seeded Montreal Canadiens in seven games, losing the last three games of the series.
After a hot start to the 2011–12 season, the Capitals fell apart, posting just four wins in 13 games during the month of November. Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin both vastly underperformed during the stretch. These and other factors led to Boudreau's firing on November 28, 2011, despite Boudreau having reached 200 regular season wins faster than any coach in the modern NHL era.[15] He was replaced by former Capitals captain and then-London Knights head coach Dale Hunter.[16]
Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild (2012–2020)
Two days after he was fired by the Capitals, the Anaheim Ducks hired Boudreau to replace the recently fired Randy Carlyle as their head coach. Boudreau became the fastest coach to be hired after being fired in NHL history.[17]
On April 29, 2016, Boudreau was fired by the Ducks after they lost a Game 7 on home ice for the fourth consecutive year. He led the Ducks to four consecutive division titles in his four full seasons in Anaheim.[18]
On May 7, 2016, Boudreau was hired by the Minnesota Wild as their new head coach.[19] Boudreau led the Wild to a successful regular season finishing 2nd in the Central Division (earning home ice advantage for round 1), but the team fell apart in March,[20] after the Martin Hanzal trade,[21] and collapsed in the first round of the playoffs winning just 1 game on the road and losing every game at home against the St. Louis Blues.[22] With the latest early round knock-out of a team that shone during the regular season, Boudreau has cemented his reputation as a coach who has failed to achieve success in the Stanley Cup playoffs.[23] During his fourth season with the Wild, he was fired on February 14, 2020.[24][25]
Vancouver Canucks (2021–2023)
On December 5, 2021, Boudreau was named head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, whose poor season to that point had led to the dismissal of both head coach Travis Green and general manager Jim Benning.[26] His immediate positive impact on the team's performance resulted in him being serenaded regularly during home games with a variation of the Tag Team song "Whoomp! (There It Is)" lyric, "Bruce, there it is!"[27] On January 23, 2022, Boudreau coached in his 1,000th career NHL game in a 3–1 loss to the St. Louis Blues.[28] Ultimately, the Canucks would not make the playoffs in Boudreau's first season, despite a significant uptick in performance and a winning record under Boudreau.[29]
In the off-season, the Canucks' new president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, indicated that they would not immediately extend Boudreau's contract beyond the option for one more season in his initial arrangement.[30] It was subsequently reported that Rutherford, who had been hired after Boudreau, was initially unaware that the latter's contract contained an option for a second year.[31] After the Canucks began the 2022–23 season with a franchise-record seven-game losing streak, Rutherford became publicly critical of the team's performance and, implicitly, of Boudreau. The Province noted "the optics of the owner first hiring Boudreau and then Rutherford were never good," as it was typically management's job to hire the coach.[32]
By January 2023, as the Canucks continued to sink in the standings, Rutherford admitted that he had been speaking to potential replacements for Boudreau.[33] Days later, it began to be reported that Boudreau would soon be replaced by Rick Tocchet. The unusual spectacle of an NHL coach continuing in his job as a lame duck began to attract considerable media attention.[31][34] Addressing the rumours in advance of a January 20 game, Boudreau acknowledged "I'd be a fool to say I don't know what's going on."[35] Despite the team subsequently losing that game to the Colorado Avalanche by a score of 4–1, fans in the stands revived the "Bruce, there it is!" chant in support of Boudreau. Speaking afterward, he said that "I've only been here a year, but it'll go down in my memory books out of the 48 years I've played and coached as the most incredible thing I've experienced on a personal level other than winning championships."[36] On January 21, with media reports that Boudreau would be formally replaced the following Monday (January 23), he oversaw what was believed to be his final game as coach, with the team falling 4–2 to the Edmonton Oilers. He was again saluted by the audience, and said that numerous players had approached him after the game to bid farewell, though he had not heard anything from management.[37][38] On January 22, the Canucks announced that Boudreau had been fired and replaced by Tocchet.[39] The saga of Boudreau's firing, particularly the publicly-perceived mistreatment of the coach in his final few weeks, became a major news story that was widely reported on beyond the sports world, with criticism being directed towards Rutherford and Canucks management for their treatment of Boudreau.[31][40][41] During Tocchet's subsequent introductory press conference, Rutherford apologized for the manner in which Boudreau's dismissal had been handled.[42]
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