After the fourth consecutive Game 7 home loss for the Anaheim Ducks, the latest to the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, someone had to pay the price. Head coach Bruce Boudreau ended up as the one to pay for the playoff failures in Anaheim, as he’s now been fired by the Ducks.
#NHLDucks have relieved Head Coach Bruce Boudreau of his duties, Executive Vice President/GM Bob Murray announced. pic.twitter.com/aFAH2XhR9x
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) April 29, 2016
Boudreau took over the Ducks job in the middle of the 2011-12 NHL campaign after he was fired by the Capitals during that same season. In each of his four full seasons behind the bench in Anaheim, he won the Pacific Division. That followed four consecutive division titles in Washington. But Boudreau wasn’t fired by the Ducks for his regular-season performances; he was fired because of the Ducks’ failure to break their own glass ceiling in the postseason.
Former #Caps coach has finished in 1st place in 8 of 9 NHL seasons (exception was 2011-12- split between WSH/ANA) https://t.co/VoUSlNRUUD
— Ben Raby (@BenRaby31) April 29, 2016
Boudreau’s struggles in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, particularly Game 7s, have been well noted. But certainly some of the performances can be chalked up to consistent bad luck when it matters most.
By my math…
Boudreau's teams in G7's: 1-8, 55.1 5v5 CF%, 5.1 5v5 Sh%, .867 5v5 Sv%
Boudreau's teams in close-outs: 5-13, 55.6, 5.6, .892
— Japers' Rink (@JapersRink) April 28, 2016
In the last four seasons, Boudreau’s teams were up 3-2 in each of those series. But the Ducks lost the final two games in heartbreaking fashion, the first on the road and the second at home. The even-strength save percentage for Boudreau’s goalies in those Game 7s — which include luminaries such as Cristobal Huet, Semyon Varlamov, Jonas Hiller and John Gibson — is .867, which is remarkably bad.
Boudreau was nearly fired during the regular season for a terrible start in which the Ducks were last overall in the NHL in mid-December and also last in the NHL in goals scored.
The veteran coach shouldn’t be out of work long, however, as both the Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild have vacancies behind the bench that Boudreau could be well apt to fill. His 208-104-40 record since being hired by the Ducks was the fourth-best record in the NHL over that period. Some rumored names to replace Boudreau in Anaheim include former NHL bench bosses Paul MacLean and Dallas Eakins — currently the coach of the Ducks’ AHL affiliate in San Diego — and Trent Yawney, an assistant on Boudreau’s Anaheim staff.