Guy Boucher, seen here in 2011 when he was coaching the Tampa Bay Lightning, replaces Dave Cameron as head coach of the Ottawa Senators.Charles Krupa/The Associated Press
Everybody's smarter the second time around and Guy Boucher, the new Ottawa Senators coach, will get a chance to prove just how much he learned from his first NHL coaching gig.
Boucher's appointment came Sunday, less than 24 hours after the Minnesota Wild snapped up the off-season's No. 1 coaching prize, Bruce Boudreau. Boudreau was in the mix in Ottawa until the Wild stepped up and offered him more term – four years as opposed to three – and an annual average salary of $2.75-million (U.S.), an offer he couldn't refuse.
Boucher was considered one of the game's brightest young minds when he was hired by the Tampa Bay Lightning as their coach in June, 2010. He was the NHL's youngest head coach that year, just 38, and coming off an extraordinary season in minor pro, where he led the Montreal Canadiens' affiliate in Hamilton to a 51-11-11 record.
Boucher had a big impact early in his NHL career, leading the Lightning to the Eastern Conference final in 2011. But they missed the playoffs the next year and were on their way to doing so again when general manager Steve Yzerman fired Boucher and turned the reins over to Jon Cooper.
At the time, there were reports that Boucher alienated some of the Lightning's veteran players, with his insistence on using a 1-3-1 fore-checking system, which occasionally had them backing up in the neutral zone as though they were the 1995 New Jersey Devils.
Boucher spent the past two seasons coaching in Switzerland, though he was dismissed from his job by SC Bern in November, after he let them know he wasn't planning to return next year and would seek an NHL coaching position. Boucher almost landed in the NHL last season – he would have been the Toronto Maple Leafs' head coach, if Mike Babcock hadn't ultimately decided to join them instead of the Buffalo Sabres when he had two significant offers on the table.
Boucher replaces Dave Cameron, who was fired after this past season, and represents new general manager Pierre Dorion's first major move since taking over from Bryan Murray earlier this spring.
The hope in Ottawa is to stop the endless carousel behind the bench. Since 2007, John Paddock, Murray, Craig Hartsburg, Cory Clouston, Paul MacLean and Cameron have all had a chance to coach the Senators with varying degrees of success. They have now had nine consecutive seasons with fewer than 100 points and have finished higher than seventh in the conference only once in that span.
Boucher and Dorion will meet the media Monday to offer their views of the Senators' future.
In making the announcement Sunday, only owner Eugene Melnyk was quoted.
According to Melnyk, Dorion and the Senators' hockey operations undertook a "thorough and comprehensive search" for a new head coach for a three-week period and following a detailed evaluation of all coaching candidates, "there was overwhelming consensus that Guy was our top candidate.
"We wanted a great coach and this process yielded our top pick. I couldn't be happier."