Bruce Boudreau- The Tribe Has Spoken

Boudreau at practice

In a fate that Blues fans in very recent memory can come to terms with, Washington Capitals head coach Bruce “Gabby” Boudreau has been fired. After starting the season at 7-0, picking up a new franchise record, the Caps have slumped. Ovechkin and his boys have lost 6 of the last 8 games and in their last showing and were beat down by a Buffalo Sabers team that is missing 9 regular skaters. Inconsistent and poor playoff performances over the last few seasons coupled with a new approach on popular players and his players as a whole has him packing his bags and moving on down the road. Bruce Boudreau in his four seasons with Washington went 201-88-40. One might take a look at those numbers, scratch their head, and wonder why in the hell would you fire a coach with such a great record? Well here is a stat that might skew that regular season factoid. Since 2007 when Boudreau took over, the Capitals are a measly .459% in the play offs in terms of wins. 17-20 to be exact in 37 games, never finding a way to get deeper then the second round.

The front office of the Captials has decided to go with former Caps captain Dale Hunter. Hunter played 12 seasons in Washington and was captain for the last 5 of his career. You can find Dale Hunter’s number 32 jersey retired in the rafters of the Verizon Center in DC. Spending the last 11 seasons as head coach of the London Knights of the OHL, he has racked up quite and impressive record of his own. At 451-189-23-24, Hunter holds the record as the fastest coach to ever reach 300 wins and then 400 wins. Hunter is expected to be in the building today with the team and to run practice before the Caps first game with their new head coach tomorrow night against the St. Louis Blues.

So what will this mean for our Boys in Blue tomorrow night in grand ol’ DC? From the gist of things going on in Washington it is apparent that the players are not happy with the way Gabby was running the team. Benching star players in big moments because they failed to perform during the game does not seem to sit well with them. It is also apparent that the front office has either caved in to the wishes of their players or feel the same way as the players do. When you do not have your star power on the ice for the big minutes in the game it affects the teams’ bottom line. When a casual fan looks at a game from their prospective all they see is Ovechkin and Semin are not on the ice, it infuriates them. It is not hard to dig down and figure out why Boudreau adopted this new way of dealing with his players. When you become unreliable in your own end and you become lazy with the puck or turn it over allowing the other team chances to win games, it is time to create accountability. Gabby was met head on by team Captain Alex Ovechkin in a game where he played poorly and was benched in the final moments of the game by Boudreau. Ovechkin was accused of muttering a few very vulgar remarks aimed at Boudreau’s decision. Bruce turned out to be correct in his decision as the Caps scored the game winning goal with number 8 planted firmly on the bench. Will Dale Hunter’s approach be different? Will Dale Hunter be able to get the mega star divas of the NHL to buy into his system of hockey and learn to play not only better together, but learn how to break out of a slump when you feel yourself headed in that direction? The Caps have always been a high flying offensive force in the NHL, with a quick transition game that could be the best there is in the world. The Blues have an opportunity to come into an environment that will be filled with some uncertainties early on. If the Caps are not prepared and ready for this high flying Blues club they may continue to trek down that lonely road that is a losing streak. A lot of things will remain unanswered in DC until Hunter has a few games under his belt. Even after that, the Capitals players themselves will have to perform night in and night out. Hunter can’t go onto the ice for them and make them play the way they need to in order to win games. Come playoff time, will the Capitals be sitting pretty as they have in years past? Or, will Dave Hunter’s Capitals be cleaning their golf clubs while watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs from home? Time will tell and so will this first test against the St. Louis Blues. The game between the St. Louis Blues and the Washington Capitals will be on Tuesday night 6/7CDT from DC.