Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Capitals Name Bruce Boudreau Head Coach - Remove "Interim" From His Title

From the press release:

"ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have named Bruce Boudreau the team's head coach, removing 'interim' from his title, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today. The Capitals are 7-5-3 since Boudreau was named interim head coach on Nov. 22.

"Boudreau, 52, has coached championship teams in the American Hockey League (AHL) and the ECHL and has coached more than 1,000 games in the minor leagues. He led the Hershey Bears, Washington's AHL affiliate, to the Eastern Conference championship and the Calder Cup finals in each of his first two years in Hershey, winning the Calder Cup in 2006. Boudreau compiled a 103-45-11-16 record with the Bears (a .666 winning percentage), including an AHL-best 51-17-6-6 record (.713) last season.

"Washington's seven wins and 17 points under Boudreau exceed the team's total from prior to his appointment (6-14-1). Offensively the Capitals have averaged nearly a goal per game more under Boudreau ( 3.0 to 2.2) and have seen significant improvements on both the power play and penalty kill."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i think that emotional/inspirational speech he gave the guys this morning that tarik mentioned was the clincher. hes a pro coach, end of story.

Whiter Mage said...

Yeah, and he coached a gem tonight. Was a great game after a lackluster first period.

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) If Tampa thinks this new kid Ramo is their answer in net they're mistaken. He was giving up juicy rebounds all night, was beaten 5-6 times where the caps missed the net(or hit the iron), and looked shaky out side of a couple of nice saves. It could have been 6-2 or worse! TB is NOT a good team despite having one of the best forward lines in the NHL
2) That said, AO didn't look like he had much energy out there. Did they report he's not feelng well? Still, Ovechkin at less than 100% is better than 99% of the league.
3) Green continues to impress. Looks like Paul Coffey the way he goes end to end, only he can play defense too!
4) Lets see if they decide to/can match up the Laing/Steckel/Bradley trio against the Kid tomorrow. Will be impressive if they can repeat tonight's feat of not only shutting the other team's top line, but providing most of the offense as well!

Unknown said...

I too thought AO looked a little off of his game. Maybe it was due to the holiday break, but I am hoping he brings his "A" game tonight against the Pens.

I'm happy for Bruce. I think he has the right mentality for this young squad. No more coddling, it's time for each player to step up and be responsible to the team.