Photo: Pioneer Press
Photo: Pioneer PressAccording to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Vancouver Canucks fired head coach Travis Green on Sunday and replaced him with former Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau, who signed a two-year contract with the club.
Hearing tonight that Bruce Boudreau will be the next coach of the Vancouver Canucks.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 6, 2021
A 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night where the Vancouver Canucks were outshot 44-23 sent the team to their 10th loss in 13 games (3-9-1), better than just the New York Islanders (0-7-2) since November 8.
Green just signed a contract extension with the Canucks last offseason.
Not sure on exact timelines, but change was made sometime today. Not sure when official announcement will be made.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 6, 2021
Overall, the Canucks’ .360 points percentage this season ranks 29th in the NHL ahead of just the Arizona Coyotes (.250), Montreal Canadiens (.288), and Ottawa Senators (.295). Despite averaging 33.6 shots-per-game (eighth), the Canucks have allowed 32 shots-per-game (13th-most) this season.
Although they have offensive weapons such as center Elias Pettersson, right-wing Brock Boeser, center J.T. Miller, and right-wing Conor Garland, the Canucks are currently 28th with an average of 2.36 goals-per-game and tied for 20th with a 17.4% power-play efficiency. Don’t even get started on defense where the team’s 64.6% penalty kill is the worst in NHL history through 25 games of a season. They have also allowed an average of 3.16 goals-per-game (the 10th-most) after making numerous moves on the blueline and in net last offseason in an attempt to fix their defensive deficiencies.
#SellTheTeam chants in the concourse. 🗣
(Via: @jamesbenz44) #Canucks pic.twitter.com/THdPkBnnFy
— Grady Sas (@GradySas) December 5, 2021
In 314 games behind the bench, Green led the Canucks to a 133-147-34 record (.478 points percentage) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs just once, in 2020 where they lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in seven games.
In 13 seasons as an NHL head coach with the Capitals, Anaheim Ducks, and Minnesota Wild, the 66-year old has a 567-302-115 record in the regular season. He was hired mid-year by the Capitals during the 2007-08 season and led them to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in the Alex Ovechkin era with 11 wins in the final 12 games of the season. Boudreau won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year that season. In five seasons with the Capitals, Boudreau went 201-88-40. He guided them to their first Presidents’ Trophy in 2009-10 and to the top of the Eastern Conference again the next season but was never able to get them past the second round.
Boudreau has taken his team to the third round only once in his NHL coaching career. That came with the Ducks in 2015, when they fell in seven games to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.
Boudreau worked as a studio analyst for NHL Network since the Wild fired him and had a conversation with the Capitals about returning in the same role after they fired head coach Todd Reirden in August 2020 but it did not go far. The team ultimately decided to hire Peter Laviolette instead.
By Harrison Brown
Quite a volatile situation he’s stepping into. Hope it goes relatively well for him.
God speed, Gabby. Hopefully you can rein-in the craziness out there.
No kidding. He has a better chance than most. I’m recalling when he was appointed the Caps’ head coach. They were dead last in the NHL, as in headed toward being able to draft Steven Stamkos that year, assuming they won the lottery. Caps were…. bad. The two prior years, they had drafted 4th and 5th. Caps management had thought the rebuild was over. After that terrible start, Hanlon was fired and Boudreau promoted from Hershey.
So they eventually got hot, made the playoffs, and then were regularly in contention after that.
You know, I don’t think Glen Hanlon knew what to do offensively. Especially with Ovi. But once Boudreau arrived, wow! He started going up tempo and it was fun. Too bad they didn’t get a decent defensive corp, otherwise they’d have at least gone to the conference finals.