Quick Note...
A special thanks today to Hockey Night In Canada for sponsoring HockeyBuzz today in Canada. Click here to see the listings in your area as HNIC begins its 58th Season!
HNIC Schedule When it comes to Hockey, there is nothing greater than Hockey Night in Canada. I have often talked about how much I love the way they televise games. The way they let the crowd do the talking as they show the players skate out and the anthems without any commentary at all. How psyched it makes you when you are watching at home. How they are the only Live Sports Program that puts you "at the game." I am honoured to have them as a sponsor.
I have heard many good things about Guy Boucher....
* He is the next big thing.
* He is the smartest coach the NHL has seen in years.
* He is perhaps one of the best hockey teaching coaches ever, already.
* He has the ability to sell his system quicker than any coach we have seen in years.
* He gets more out of players than anyone else thinks possible.
* He is the epitome of confidence.
* He will one day be in the Hall of Fame.
It was hard for me to imagine ANY coach this young living up to this kind of billing. It is unfair to put such lofty praise on a guy who had never coached a game at the top level. I always wondered how much of a product of the Montreal press this guy was, while coaching the AHL affiliate in Hamilton. And hard to imagine why the Montreal Canadiens, who have needed head coaches recently, would ever let this one get away.
As Scoop Cooper, Flyers historian and Hershey Bears historian always says..."Coaching at the AHL level is about teaching, while coaching at the NHL level is about psychology." NHL coaches have to wear many more hats and deal with millionaires. Not kids full of .... and vinegar..
So I decided to take the "wait and see" approach on Boucher....that was until I saw the Lightning play in person last night, and talked to players, and saw Guy Boucher in action.
I have to say...sometimes the shoe fits, and sometimes the hype is real.
Watching the Lightning play last night, this team is for real. Three games into the Guy Boucher Era, the players aren't buying in...they are already SOLD. The Lightning are playing team hockey. I watched Vinny backcheck and take the body. I watched St. Louis dump the puck in and go off for a line change. I watch Steven Stamkos show why it shouldn't be just Crosby's and Ovechkin's NHL anymore. It is Crosby's, Ovechkin's, and Stamkos' NHL.
The Southeastern Division will belong to the Capitals and the Lightning for YEARS to come. I envision them alternating division championships and each taking trips to the Finals over the next decade. I believe we will see plenty of Tampa and Washington on National TV as these two teams are going to battle 6 times a year...and we will wish they played 12 times a year.
The Rumor That Won't Go Away....
Kevin Bieksa has shown up to play this year and has a new lease on life recently playing with Dan Hamhuis, but last night another major source of mine told me the Canadiens WILL trade for Bieksa when Salo returns. "They love him and the Canucks are thrilled Bieksa is playing better so they can get more in return...eventually."
more to come...
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