The Boudreau File
- Born: January 9, 1955, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Currently: NHL coaching free agent
- 2021-22 to 2022-23: Served as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, going 50-40-13 and failed to make the playoffs.
- 2016-17 to 2019-20: Served as head coach of the Minnesota Wild, compiling a regular-season record of 158-110-35, while losing in the first round in both playoff appearances.
- 2011-2012 to 2015-16: Served as head coach of the Anaheim Ducks, going 208-104-50 in the regular season, winning four-straight division titles, and going to the conference final in 2015.
- 2007-08 to 2011-12: Served as head coach of the Washington Capitals, recording a regular season record of 201-88-40, winning four-straight division titles and the 2010 Presidents' Trophy, but never made it past the second round.
- 2008 Jack Adams Award winner
- 21st all-time in regular season wins at 617-342-128 (.626 PTS%)
Welcome back to another edition of coaching profiles, as the Blue Jackets search for their next head coach. So far, we've profiled Peter Laviolette, Andrew Brunette, and Claude Julien. Click their names to check those out.
Today, we're profiling Bruce Boudreau, who is a coaching free agent after being let go by the Canucks earlier this year. Boudreau has coached in 15 NHL seasons for four different teams.
As you can see in the callout box to the right, he's won eight division titles and a Presidents' Trophy.
Regarding his personality, Boudreau has the reputation of being a player's coach.
The one knock on Boudreau's teams over the years has been the idea that they haven't lived up to their potential, especially in the playoffs, where he's made it out of the second round just once and is 1-7 in game seven over his career. Whether or not it's appropriate to blame that on the coach is up to you. What's not up for discussion are the facts that he has at least a .500 PTS% everywhere he's coached, he's made the playoffs 10 times, and the average power play for his teams throughout his head-coaching tenure is 20.61%, as you can see in the chart near the bottom of this piece.
As I've mentioned in previous pieces, the Blue Jackets' single-season record for power-play efficiency is 21.7%, which was in 2014-15. Throughout the 22-season history of the Blue Jackets franchise, their power play sits at an abysmal 16%. In 2022-23, the power play was at 18.3%, which would be the sixth-lowest among a Boudreau-coached team. The chart also shows that Boudreau's teams have finished in the top five in goals for/game six times and in the top 10 seven times. The Jackets have finished in the top 10 just twice, and never in the top five. For a franchise that isn't used to seeing high-powered offense and a successful power play, the math shows that Boudreau would bring exactly that to Columbus.
Another interesting point is that Boudreau's first captain in Washington was none other than current Blue Jackets director of player personnel Chris Clark, so the organization has a familiarity with his coaching style.
Like Laviolette and Julien, Boudreau is a proven winner at the NHL level, and there aren't many of those coaches available.
