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Todd Cordell
I really don't think the Anaheim Ducks should fire Bruce Boudreau.
Over the last eight full seasons his team won the division title eight times. It doesn't get much better than that.
I think he did a marvellous job of making adjustments with the Ducks this year after their slow start. He really locked things down defensively and his team's forecheck was, for my money, the best in hockey.
The Ducks lost Game 7 to a good team by just one goal and, by all accounts, the Ducks were the better team in that game. Sometimes you run into a hot goaltender and that's what happened here. And what has happened to Boudreau's team in the past.
For my money Boudreau is a top-5 coach in hockey and I don't see any other top-5 coaches available for hire. As such I think the Ducks would be smart to keep Boudreau and give it another shot next season.
James Tanner
Absolutely not.
You could give the Jack Adams to Boudreau and it'd be a fair choice. The Ducks were done and they ended up being one of the best teams in hockey save for the first month or two of the season, so if you're going to blame the coach for losing, then you have to credit him for that too.
Plus, what's he supposed to do? You can't make Corey Perry score a goal with coaching. He's a pretty amazing player and he went in a slump - to the point were if he scored even just one goal they likely are still playing. So firing the coach makes no sense.
Not only that, but the Ducks could have won either game six or game seven by playing exactly how they played - they ran into a hot goalie and a good team in a very tough first round matchup.
I think it's ridiculous to have this conversation every time a team loses in the first round.
Jason Lewis
It would be the easy answer to say yes, but at some point you have to put the onus on the players to perform.
If you are a good enough coach to get your team to win three games in a series, and also multiple series in the past, the players have to shoulder the blame for actually going out and WINNING the game. Boudreau has flaws as a coach, but he has done well in correcting them over time. The Ducks, however, have bigger issues in playoff performances than Bruce Boudreau. Corey Perry was atrocious that series? Simon Despres was not very good, new additions like Kevin Bieksa and Ryan Garbutt were not very good. Are they still really going with a Gibson/Andersen tandem?
This is one of those instances where you could easily dismiss the coach after consecutive failings in Game 7s, and it would not be altogether unjustified. HOWEVER, the Ducks have much larger problems at hand than simply their bench boss.
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