Over the past few weeks, Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau had been stuck in limbo as the team mulled his future. The team reportedly wanted to fire him weeks in favor of TNT analyst Rick Tocchet, but did not because Tocchet couldn’t immediately get out of his contract with the network, according to Vancouver-based sports journalist Rick Dhaliwal.
On Sunday, Vancouver officially fired Boudreau and hired Tocchet as his replacement.
The Canucks kept Boudreau as head coach while rumors swirled that he would be fired for weeks. On Saturday night, Boudreau coached his final game with the team, but Vancouver fans made sure he got a proper send off with multiple “Bruce, there it is” chants.
The Canucks (18-25-3) sit in sixth place in the Pacific Division with 39 points. Boudreau was 50-40-13 in 103 games as the team’s coach, dating to last season.
Boudreau finally acknowledged the situation, as the 68-year-old veteran coach might not get another chance to lead a team in the NHL. After Saturday’s game, he told reporters how much he appreciated the fans’ support.
“You never know if it’s the end,” Boudreau said. “When you’ve been in it for almost 50 years, majority of you’re life, and if it’s the end? So I had to stay out there and look at the crowd and say ‘OK, remember this moment.’”
Boudreau thanked his players for working hard for him and assistants whom he thought the team should have kept.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more from those guys. They are all great coaches,” he said. “They’d be stupid not to take any of those guys …It’s unfortunate, they don’t deserve this.”
However, the team also fired assistant Trent Cull, while hiring two new assistants along with Tocchet.
While Boudreau said he doesn’t know why the team kept him as head coach through such uncertainty, Boudreau defended his accomplishments, which included a winning record in just over one year for the Canucks.
“I don’t think there is anybody who loves the game more than me, and will miss the game when I’m out of it, and I hope I never get out of it,” he said. “It’s been tough the last couple weeks. … I hope this isn’t my last hurrah.”
Boudreau has registered a career record of 617-342-128 in 1,087 NHL games with Washington, Anaheim, Minnesota and Vancouver.
