[News] Ducks fire Boudreau

[VladtheImpaler]

Not being behind the scenes, it's hard to say that it's anything other than being extremely bad luck. Just like you can lose with AA vs an underpair 5 times in a row.

[Strange Brew]

I think you have to acknowledge Boudreau is doing something right given all his success. I would love to have Burke and BT interview him and find out if he has learned anything about these game 7's.

It might not be that he is just a bad game 7 coach. Is he a bad playoff coach that gets out packed resulting in weaker teams eventually beating him over a longer series? To me that's the concern.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Singularity

I would love to have him here. Ducks had the #1 defence, power-play and penalty kill this season, while we are totally at the other end of the spectrum

they also had a goaltender and better players

[Erick Estrada]

Barry Trotz is a fantastic coach but it's not like the Capitals don't squeeze their sticks in the playoffs under him like they did under Boudreau. As we found with Iginla & Co. sometimes the issue is a core group that simply doesn't have the resolve in them to out-battle their opposition in the playoffs where every shift matters. Joel Quenneville was one of those guys who's teams underachieved in the playoffs until he went to a team that had the right players in Chicago.

[MoreDrank]

Originally Posted by Frank MetaMusil

I can't remember who said it on the panel last game, but they said Boudreau was constantly trying to "get Getzlaf away from Toews" in the playoffs last season, and Quenneville was messing with his head.

Hell, Boudreau even seemed worried after beating the Flames 4-1, and said the series was a lot closer than it may have appeared.

That's got to be some major false modesty. Flames got absolutely destroyed that series. Minus one last minute Gaudreau goal to force OT and Backs' game-winner, that would have been an easy series sweep.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by MoreDrank

That's got to be some major false modesty. Flames got absolutely destroyed that series. Minus one last minute Gaudreau goal to force OT and Backs' game-winner, that would have been an easy series sweep.

Flames could have easily won game four and game five was OT although that would have been a Ramo steal had they won it

[Dion]

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

He could win Game 6, considering Anaheim has been up 3-2 and still been booted from the playoffs by losing Game 6 AND Game 7 in those series ever since he's been in Anaheim.

Аrpon Basu
‏@ArponBasu
The 0-fer in four Games 6 when up 3-2 is almost worse than the 0-fer in the Games 7 that followed for Boudreau/Ducks. Not mentioned enough.

[saillias]

I'll take a consistent record of repeated success over the random variance of one game samples any day

[SuperMatt18]

Yeah that is really the only issue - 0-8 when trying to close out a series in game 6 or 7 is ugly.

But it also meant he was a good enough coach to get them to a 3-2 series lead.

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I agree with you, it's hard to imagine that it's a coincidence. It's like flipping a coin ten times and having it come up heads every time. So he must be doing something wrong, I guess? I just don't see what it could be. Maybe he has some nervous emotional energy that his players pick up on, or something similarly unquantifiable.

But that still doesn't really make sense, because then you'd expect them to be outshot and outpossessed. And they aren't. Boudreau teams tend to outplay their opposition, even though that opposition, being playoff opposition, is usually pretty damned good. And their opponents end up with absurdly high save percentages, or get every bounce offensively. It's hard to imagine what he could be doing to produce that result.

So maybe he DID just flip a coin ten times and lose all ten. The odds seem astronomical but I have trouble thinking of what the alternative explanation could be.

In 1993, the Canadiens won 10 straight overtime games en route to the Stanley. Roy was great, but getting the first goal in 10 straight games has to be a huge helping of good luck. For Boudreau, I think it's mainly bad luck. S*** happens.

[agulati]

I am sure someone will come knocking soon enough. He has been a good coach so far in his career.

He also turned a horrible season around for the ducks this year

[polak]

Pretty sure he'll have his pick of the litter.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by polak

I'd take him over Hartley, in a second.

And there it is. And you and everyone who agrees with you would want him fired within a year. "We didn't win it all during a rebuild, fire the coach!" Derp.

[Locke]

They should fire McLellan and hire Boudreau just to keep the carousel spinning.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I agree with you, it's hard to imagine that it's a coincidence. It's like flipping a coin ten times and having it come up heads every time. So he must be doing something wrong, I guess? I just don't see what it could be. Maybe he has some nervous emotional energy that his players pick up on, or something similarly unquantifiable.

But that still doesn't really make sense, because then you'd expect them to be outshot and outpossessed. And they aren't. Boudreau teams tend to outplay their opposition, even though that opposition, being playoff opposition, is usually pretty damned good. And their opponents end up with absurdly high save percentages, or get every bounce offensively. It's hard to imagine what he could be doing to produce that result.

So maybe he DID just flip a coin ten times and lose all ten. The odds seem astronomical but I have trouble thinking of what the alternative explanation could be.

Originally Posted by Steve Bozek

In 1993, the Canadiens won 10 straight overtime games en route to the Stanley. Roy was great, but getting the first goal in 10 straight games has to be a huge helping of good luck. For Boudreau, I think it's mainly bad luck. S*** happens.

The funny thing here is the answer is right in front of us in both situations.

It comes down to goal-tending in the playoffs, especially in overtime and deciding games.

In those 10 games for the Canadians they always had the goaltending advantage with one of the best of all time in net. They went up against Hextall, Fuhr, Healy, and Hrudey in those playoffs. Hextall and Fuhr were great in their own right but not on Roy's level & Healy & Hrudey weren't even close.

In Boudreau's case he has never truly had the better goaltender when it came down to an elimination game.

Part of that may be due to his coaching in a way - his teams seem to never have a true number 1 and always have some type of controversy about what goalie will start - in Anaheim it has been Andersen/Gibson/Hiller/Fasth, in Washington it was Varlamov/Neuvirth/Holtby/Theodore/Huet.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

And there it is. And you and everyone who agrees with you would want him fired within a year. "We didn't win it all during a rebuild, fire the coach!" Derp.

And there it is. And you and everyone who agrees with you would not want him fired. "We made the playoffs one year but went back to 26th overall, keep the coach!" Derp

[taxbuster]

Per tweet by an AP writer covering the Ducks:

Greg Beacham ‏@gregbeacham 3h3 hours ago
Ducks GM Bob Murray is much, much angrier at his core players than at Bruce Boudreau

There's a long comment from Murray attached questioning where the players were in Games 1 and 2 and wondering if he'd been hard enough on them, where there passion was etc. etc. (see Friedman's timeline for a RT of this).

I'd say that, given the level of Getzlaf's whining, Kesler's diving and Bieksa and Perry's general lack of drive (other than Perry "falling" on goalies) there's a few hard questions to be asked at the exit interviews. Wouldn't be surprised to see if Murray tries to make deals for some of his core. Wouldn't be surprised either if no-one accepts....

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by taxbuster

I'd say that, given the level of Getzlaf's whining, Kesler's diving and Bieksa and Perry's general lack of drive (other than Perry "falling" on goalies) there's a few hard questions to be asked at the exit interviews. Wouldn't be surprised to see if Murray tries to make deals for some of his core. Wouldn't be surprised either if no-one accepts....

The Ducks have an internal cap, a lot of young players looking for raises, and an underachieving and ageing core. It would make more sense to move out some of the core guys, than to lose the younger players.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

And there it is. And you and everyone who agrees with you would not want him fired. "We made the playoffs one year but went back to 26th overall, keep the coach!" Derp

"What is a rebuild?" derp. The fact Hartley got this team in the playoffs last year was a minor miracle. Again, we get a new coach and it will be the same song and dance from you.