Throughout his head coaching career, Bruce Boudreau had his teams be competitive. Despite not winning a Stanley Cup as a head coach, Boudreau still was among one of the best coaches in the NHL.
In 16 seasons as an NHL head coach, Boudreau had eight seasons of having 100 points or more. In 2008, Boudreau won the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL's best head coach when he coached the Washington Capitals.
Boudreau last coached with the Vancouver Canucks in the 2022-23 season. Since then, Boudreau has been a hockey analyst. Recently, Boudreau gave the Ottawa Senators high praise with how hot they've been in December.
Boudreau gives Senators high praise with hot December stretch
Boudreau recently appeared on "The Talking Point" with Gino Reda. While on The Talking Point, Boudreau was asked "have the Sens finally figured it out," and Boudreau believes they certainly have with posting a 6-1-1 record in December after they had a 10-12-1 record once November concluded.
"It's a significant turnaround, there's no doubt," Boudreau said.
The Senators are currently in the second Wild Card spot with a 16-13-2 record (34 points) in the Eastern Conference. A big part of the Senators' hot stretch is due to Linus Ullmark and the defense. The Senators have allowed one goal in three of the eight games, and Ullmark has recorded two shutouts during the stretch. Ullmark recorded a 30-save shutout in the Senators last game against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
"I would leave the heck alone," Boudreau said on how he would handle playing Ullmark. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Although the Senators have won six of their eight games in December, five of the teams the Senators had beaten wouldn't be in the 2025 playoffs if the season ended today. However, Boudreau doesn't care who the Senators had beaten.
"It's what you do against the teams that are below you that makes the difference," Boudreau said. "Ottawa's only doing what they're supposed to be doing. They're beating the teams that they know they're better than."
The Senators have seen a big jump this season from Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson. All three are having career years and the Senators hope bigger things are to come.
If the Senators are going to remain hot, they need to get more offensive production outside of their top offensive players and continue to play outstanding defense. Lately, Shane Pinto has recorded three goals over the past three games. Nick Jensen and Thomas Chabot have had great seasons leading the Senators defensively.
The Senators haven't made the playoffs since 2017. At the end of his appearance on The Talking Point, Boudreau ended with a high on the Senators and is rooting for them to silence doubters.
"I'm looking forward to them to continue this trend and not fall back into the abyss sort of thing," Boudreau said.
The Senators play the Calgary Flames tonight in Calgary at 9 p.m. ET eager to continue their hot stretch in December.