Devils Pursuing Boucher? (tim murray guy boucher)

tim murray guy boucher

Devils Pursuing Boucher?

By GARTH'S CORNER

May 20, 2015 • 9:30 pm

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One door slammed rudely shut in his face.

Another door may be opening for Guy Boucher.

Such is life in the NHL.

Hours after he was left at the altar by the Toronto Maple Leafs, former Tampa Lighting head coach Guy Boucher mat be getting an interview with the New Jersey Devils. Ray Shero was named GM of the Devils earleir this moth and he is in need of a new head coach. Early indicators pointed to Shero reuniting with his former Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma in Newark. However, Shero has yet to interview Bylsma yet.

Boucher and his family have been chilling in the Swiss Alps for the past two years. Boucher, 44, has been coaching the legendary SC Bern club team in the Swiss League.

Boucher was fired by the Lightning in March 2013.

Boucher has been following the template of what former NHL coaches Ted Nolan, Mike Keenan, Marc Crawford, Paul Maurice and others have done in recent years: he has been coaching in Europe to keep himself spry and nimble for when an NHL head coaching job opportunity opens up. Right now, the Buffalo Sabres, TNew Jersey Devils, and San Jose Sharks are looking for their next head coach.

In his sabbatical from the NHL, Boucher hasn’t been golfing and riding his jet skis at the cottage. He has been doing work. He wants the stuffed shirts and suits to know that he is worthy of another shot at being a bench boss in the NHL.

Rather than bitch and moan about being screwed over by the Bolts, Boucher packed up his family and his his 97-78-20 NHL coaching record into his hockey bag and boarded an air bus to Switzerland to work on his coaching acumen. It wasn’t that long ago that Boucher coached his Bolts to the 2011 Eastern Conference final in which it lost 1-0 to the Bruins in Game 7.

In his three seasons in Tampa, Boucher's teams finished second, third and fourth, respectively.

He had a .546 win percentage in the regular season. However, a .611 winning percentage in the playoffs where his record is 11-7.

Boucher has become a man in high demand inside the NHL now that Toronto, Philly and Edmonton have hired their new head coaches this week. Boucher has an out-clause in his SC Bern contract and he is eager to work in the NHL again.

Boucher gets a bad rap in some NHL circles because of his use of the 1-3-1 trap strategy.

His critics are misinformed when they call him a “trap-only guy…. That’s the furthest thing from the truth. Boucher is a power play and penalty kill tactician whose special teams units were at the top of the NHL in his short stint in Tampa. He was an offensive and defensive innovator when he was hired from the AHL Hamilton Bull Dogs (Montreal Canadiens) in June 2010. Boucher is responsible for coaching and preparing P.K. Subban, Max Pacioretty, and David Desharnais for the NHL game. He also had a direct influence on the development of generation talents Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman. Boucher had great success with Hamilton and Tampa. In the end of his tenure in Tampa, he and GM Steve Yzerman experienced "philosophical differences".

During the lockout-shortened season, Yzerman canned Boucher, who was in his third year in Tampa Bay. He has been behind the bench with SC Bern in the Swiss League since January of 2014.

Recently, Boucher told TSN 1050 that he is looking for the “right situation…:

“I’ve never hid the fact that I definitely do want to go back. I have another year on my contract here. Family’s happy, had a terrific year, saw a lot of good things, learned and grew. I’ve got no problem staying here. Last year I couldn’t accept it because I didn’t have an out-clause. This year I do have an out-clause.

Boucher could not pursue an NHL gig last summer because his SC Bern contract was devoid of an out-clause. Now, he is free to roam about the NHL.

“But it would certainly be in the right situation, with the right people. And if I fit, it would certainly interest me, but like I said, it has to be in the right situation because I have a very good situation right now. But I’ve been approached, so I mean it’s a possibility. We’ll see what happens.…

Mum’s the word. Boucher knows that in the NHL, loose lips sink ships.

“But you won’t get anything else out of me,… he said emphatically.

I’ve been telling you for two months that Tim Murray of the Buffalo Sabres has been interested in Boucher’s career. It’s not known yet if Murray and Boucher have a great personal relationship like Murray and Luke Richardson do. What is known is that Murray is well aware of Boucher’s AHL Hamilton successes and he admires Boucher’s approach to coaching. Murray has said that he is looking to interview five candidates to arrive at the one man who will take Ted Nolan’s job behind the Buffalo bench.

Mike Babcock was a huge distraction to the Pegulas and Murray. It's time to hit the reset button and move on.

Here’s my updated list of five:

Luke Richardson: Tim Murray's personal friend, confidante and former colleague in Ottawa and Binghampton. He's a great communicator and is a fabulous teacher/mentor of young players. Need proof? Look at the 2014-16 Ottawa Senators roster. Richardson coached the majority of those kids and prepared them for their transition to Dave Cameron in Ottawa.

Guy Boucher: Excellent motivator and teacher. Coaches defense-first. PP and PK specialist. Has coached generational players in Stamkos, Hedman and Subban.

Peter DeBoer: In 2009, when Bryan Murray was looking for a new head coach in Ottawa, he hired Craig Hartsburg. The runner-up for the gig was Pete DeBoer. Tim Murray was involved in the Hartsburg hiring and came away from the interview process with a new found respect for DeBoer, who coached teh Kitchener Rangers to a Memorial Cup championship as well as the New Jersey Devils to teh Stanley up Finals vs. LA Kings.

Dan Bylsma: Murray was AGM in Anaheim when Bylsma was ending his NHL career there. The two men know each other. How well? Not sure. Bylsma has interviewed with teh San Jose Sharks and will likely speak with Ray Shero in New Jersey in the near future. Bylsma has coached generational players in Sid Crosby and Geno Malkin. He's won a Stanley Cup. He also served as an assistant on Team USA's bronze medal winning squad at the recently completed IIHF World Hockey Championships. Bylsma got to spend quality time for two weeks with Jack Eichel while in Prague.

Claude Julien: When the Boston Bruins introduced new GM Don Sweeney on Wednesday, Julien wasn't exactly given a ringing endorsement. If he is relieved of his duties, Murray would be wise to pounce on him.

Before he got involved with Babcock debacle, Murray conducted discussions with some head coaching candidates. Murray would be wise to have face to face talks with all candidates.

Keep this nugget in your jeans pocket:

Murray may end up hiring Richardson AND Boucher. Boucher as the head coach/PP-PK specialist, with Richardson as associate head coach.

I’m told that Boucher will be open to all NHL coaching opportunities, not just the bench boss job. So if it's Richardson as head coach and Boucher as assistant, that may not be a hassle. Murray can always pay both men similarly. Hell, Murray can make Richardson and Boucher very happy from a financial standpoint.

Boucher knows a thing or two about getting maximum effort out of all of the players on his roster. Especially the generational ones like Stamkos, Subban, and Hedman.

My guess is that Boucher is salivating about the opportunity to mentor and coach young guns Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Evander Kane, Zemgus Girgensons, Zach Bogosian, Tyler Ennis, Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov, Marcus Foligno, Hudson Fasching, Nic Deslauriers, Mark Pysyk, Jake McCabe, Nick Baptiste, Justin Bailey, JT Compherand the rest of the Sabres.

On Tuesday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs were so convinced that they were the #3 horse in the two horse Mike Babcock race, that they were having dinner at a Toronto restaurant with a former NHL coach and his wife.

The Leafs reportedly had conceded that Babcock was bound for Buffalo or Detroit and that they were moving on to another hot candidate to hire to be their next head coach. Not assistant coach. Head coach. So mush so that the Leafs flew Guy Boucher and his wife over from Switzerland to Toronto on Monday to continue the substantive discussions that they had begun the week before at the World Championships. As it is being reported by TSN's Bob McKenzie, the Leafs were prepared to take the Boucher discussions to the proposal phase of their courtship. The Leafs wanted Boucher because they felt that Babcock was out of their grasp. They needed a plausible Plan B in the event that they lost Babcock to Buffalo, or Detroit, and it looked like a done deal for that to happen on Tuesday night. Would Boucher accept an assistant coach role under Babcock?

Or, will he flip the middle finger eleven to the Leafs and hold out for a head coaching offer from Buffalo?

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