Ottawa Senators Coach Boucher Known for Fast Success
By Ian Smith
Guy Boucher can attest to the ups and downs of coaching professional hockey. It’s important to savor every moment of accomplishment, because it can end up being short lived. Luckily for the Ottawa Senators, Boucher has been known for fast success at his numerous coaching destinations.
Boucher was an intriguing choice for the Ottawa Senators, who fired Dave Cameron after the underachieving season of 2015-2016.
Cameron had been an assistant coach under Paul MacLean prior to his promotion to head coach, but the Senators decided to conduct an external search for their new head coach.
Boucher has NHL experience, and his high point was leading the Tampa Bay Lightning to game 7 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals during his first season as an NHL coach.
Before his stint in Tampa Bay, Boucher was the head coach of the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs, where he mentored future Senators’ sniper Mike Hoffman.
After a successful tenure with them, including the team’s best ever season in 2008-2009, Boucher took the head coaching position with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL. He won the coach of the year award in the AHL for the 2009-2010 season, and that was all the NHL needed to see before multiple teams offered him a head coaching gig.
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He turned down the Columbus Blue Jackets’ job to go to Tampa Bay, and his winning ways continued that first season.
However, the Lightning took a significant step back in 2011-2012, and by the end of the 2013 season, Boucher was fired.
His next stop proved to have striking parallels to his time in Tampa Bay: early success followed by a sharp decline. He won the Swiss Cup with SC Bern in 2015, but was fired just a season later after a 9th place finish.
If the Ottawa Senators believe in the predictive powers of empirical evidence, they should expect Boucher to instantly succeed in Ottawa. What happens the following seasons isn’t as positive, but that’s a future bridge to cross.
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Each destination is different, but Boucher may be the perfect coach to elevate a talented, yet hindered roster.