Bruce Boudreau named the Wilds coach

[yave1964]

Bit of a surprise here to me, I thought for sure he was going to Ottawa. The man can coach, game seven melt downs and all. The Wild will be a 100 point team next year.

Come April, who knows......

[OccamsRazor]

9 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

Bit of a surprise here to me, I thought for sure he was going to Ottawa. The man can coach, game seven melt downs and all. The Wild will be a 100 point team next year.

Come April, who knows......

 

 

Yeah how is he going to help get over the hump? He has yet to do it so far....strange indeed....oh well...next up...

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Wow.

 

I honestly did not see this coming.

I knew the Wild were going to look at candidates, maybe even possibly keeping John Torchetti on as full time coach, but I can't say I thought Boudreau, since his firing, would be a serious candidate, let alone the guy Chuck Fletcher would hire.

 

Don't even know how to feel about this.

I know Boudreau's track record, and like everyone else, I know that it usually means "upward mobility" in the standings, but the playoffs are a complete mystery to him and his teams.

 

If the Wild are really serious about contending and believe Bruce Boudreau to be the guy to get them to a Cup, then I have a sneaking suspicion there may be QUITE A FEW changes not only in the coaching staff (after all, every coach wants their OWN assistants), but there may be some in the roster as well.

 

Minnesota plays a defense oriented, puck control, speed game........while Boudreau seems to favor an offense heavy, big bodied checking style.

Two completely different schools of thought.......and the Wild, as currently built, simply cannot play on a night to night basis, the kind of style Boudreau typically employs.

 

In the short term, this may be a good thing (as Yave already pointed out...a 100 pt season playing that way is not out of the question), but in the long term? Playoff ready and more importantly CUP ready? That has yet to be proven under this coach.

 

After the Wild's first round exit against the less-than-ready-for-the-Cup Dallas Stars, I knew some changes needed to be made to this roster.....the hiring of Bruce Boudreau all but seals that.

 

This could be end of the line for some guys in that locker room, and the Wild could move in a more 'size n speed' direction, even if it comes at the cost of solid defense.

Granlund, Zucker, Brodin, Haula, Fontaine, Prosser, Niedderreiter...guys like that whom exemplified speed, structure and defense, could be traded or allowed to walk in favor of larger, more aggressive, yet more defensively liable bodies.

 

It will be interesting to see what a coach like Boudreau would do with basically 'unmovable' guys like Vanek, Pominville, or even Mikko Koivu if they can't quite fit into the new system that is sure to go into effect once Boudreau is behind the bench.

 

Come Fall, I guess we will know, but this Wild roster may be very different from October to April.........whether they will be a playoff roster or not, I simply don't know.

[ruxpin]

50 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

Bit of a surprise here to me, I thought for sure he was going to Ottawa. The man can coach, game seven melt downs and all. The Wild will be a 100 point team next year.

Come April, who knows......

 

I'm glad.  I actually like cheering for Ottawa, so his coaching there would have made that difficult for me.  I'm okay with him in Minnesota; I don't like nor dislike them; they're just kind of there for me.

[ruxpin]

3 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Minnesota plays a defense oriented, puck control, speed game........while Boudreau seems to favor an offense heavy, big bodied checking style.

Two completely different schools of thought.......and the Wild, as currently built, simply cannot play on a night to night basis, the kind of style Boudreau typically employs.

 

This completely.  Really good points all around, TFG, but I just thought this part was really good.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

1 minute ago, ruxpin said:

 

This completely.  Really good points all around, TFG, but I just thought this part was really good.

 

Thanks....and its really the reason I feel this Wild roster will just look quite different come next season (or even morph it DURING the season).

If Boudreau is going to insist on a certain style the current players cannot do on a regular basis, and Wild ownership is fully behind the new coach, then bye bye small speedy, defensively responsible players.

 

Hell, guys like Milan Lucic may even show up wearing a Wild uniform now.

Lucic- Big, strong, dumb, will score for you in a brute force manner, but leaves alot to be desired defensively.

 

Things like this (if they work) will indeed endear Boudreau to the bottom dwelling weary Minnesota sports fans, but in the end, they may realize that the Cup is STILL unattainable!

[ruxpin]

1 minute ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

Thanks....and its really the reason I feel this Wild roster will just look quite different come next season (or even morph it DURING the season).

If Boudreau is going to insist on a certain style the current players cannot do on a regular basis, and Wild ownership is fully behind the new coach, then bye bye small speedy, defensively responsible players.

 

Hell, guys like Milan Lucic may even show up wearing a Wild uniform now.

Lucic- Big, strong, dumb, will score for you in a brute force manner, but leaves alot to be desired defensively.

 

Things like this (if they work) will indeed endear Boudreau to the bottom dwelling weary Minnesota sports fans, but in the end, they may realize that the Cup is STILL unattainable!

 

I agree with all of that.  Wouldn't it be nice if he adapted his style to the players he has, though.  Get the defensive players to play more up-tempo.  Maybe something different and he won't get the result he gets EVERY.STINKING.YEAR.

 

I'm sure the fans you reference will enjoy a strong, exciting regular season.  But you've been to the playoffs for several years now; you'd think they'd go for a coach that knows how to win a fricken series.   Sorry.  I don't mean to be "other town fan criticizing a move."  I just really don't like Boudreau and am hoping the Wild didn't miss an opportunity here.

[MadDevil]

Well, I guess Wild fans should be used to doing nothing in the playoffs by now, so Boudreau should give them more of the same.

[hf101]

Wow, it's a four year deal, $3M per year.  The Wild really wanted him and upped the offer after Bourdeau interviewed with Ottawa.

 

Quote

Last season, Boudreau became the fastest coach in NHL history to reach the 400-win milestone (663 games). He’s the seventh head coach in NHL history to win 200-plus games with multiple teams. In 681 regular-season games over nine seasons, Boudreau is 409-192-80. That .659 points percentage is tops in NHL history by any coach with more than 208 games. Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman ranks second at .657, and in 1,460 games and without the benefit of the shootout.  

http://www.startribune.com/Boudreau-agrees-to-four-year-deal-as-Wild-head-coach/378525335/

 

 

I think @ruxpin made an important point in Bourdeau being the right coach for the Wild and that they are looking to improve the team's lack of consistent scoring.  Fletcher is looking to go in a whole new direction as Bourdeau will be able to pick his coaching staff as well.

 

But there is another point which needs addressing and that they need a coach to stand up to a few of the players who ran the team.  Yeah, one in particular is Ryan Sutter who basically was stated to be instrumental for getting Yeo fired.  Michael Russo reported earlier that Sutter didn't get along with Torchetti either.  Fletcher made this statement last night which I think is the main reason why he stongly went after Bourdeau.    “I think it’s important that we find a coach that can hold the players accountable and put a system in place and get them to execute the system and hold them accountable to it.”

 

Although, I've never been much of a fan of "Gabby's" coaching it was time to get a strong coach from outside of the organization.  I'm curious to see the moves Fletcher makes this summer.

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Coach Boudreau will be officially introduced to the Wild fanbase on Tuesday, as per Michael Russo's twitter post:

https://twitter.com/Russostrib?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

 

As for the roster changes I am expecting, those dominoes aren't gonna begin to fall till after July 1st.

I wonder if Boudreau would first like to try and instill a new system with the CURRENT players before recommending any house cleaning.

 

At any rate, the kind of Wild hockey fans are used to seeing (and all the good n bad that go with it) is going to look different next season...whether system wise or personnel wise.

[hf101]

Boudreau: "The fact that the whole state of Minnesota is hockey nuts I thought would be a real interesting difference coming from Anaheim."

 

ha... no mention of D. C. too.    

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Boudreau press conference just got done a bit ago....

 

So far, the new head coach has said "the right things"....the usual stuff...holding players accountable, having the will to win, etc, etc..

 

Some interesting bits though...

 

When asked about handling players, Boudreau said, and I paraphrase,

"It's pretty simple...my job is to find each player's Achilles Heel, find what drives them, and get them to perform the best they can. And if there are players that don't want to play the way it takes to win, then those players aren't going to have as much ice time as they think they are going to get...and that goes for everybody"

 

Hmmm....would that REALLY apply to firmly established vets like Ryan Suter, Zach Parise, Vanek, Pominville, etc, etc? Guess we will see if he means it, or is just making nice speeches.

 

That said, Boudreau did seem highly complimentary of guys like Parise (duh...I think EVERYONE likes this guy), Suter (calling him one of the best at what he does), and Mikko Koivu (saying he knows Mikko wants to win and has the same or better leadership qualities than his brother Saku Koivu).

 

Some things that came from this press conference that I am having trouble wrapping my head around though (and this is more from the studio analysts, NOT from Boudreau himself):

 

--Boudreau is coming into a  team that is very similar to what he had in Anaheim.

 

Ummm....really?? I don't think so. The analyst in question cited the amount of goals scored and HOW the goals were spread around (hinting at scoring as a group rather than just one or two guys).

But I think we ALL KNOW, Anaheim should have been a much higher scoring team....and how they go about getting them is usually different than how the Wild go about them. This season, the Ducks offense was an anomaly...especially at season's start.  So I don't get how this analyst can honestly say the Wild and Ducks are similar offensively.

Both teams use speed....that is about where the similarities end as far as I am concerned...

 

--- Introducing new coach BOB Boudreau.....new coach of the Wolves....

 

Yea....you heard right. Some goofball, clueless radio so-called "sports analyst" introduced Bruce Boudreau as such. And NO ONE corrected him! SMH...

Won't say much about this, except: Idiotic, embarrassing, and get the hell off the air!

 

---- Boudreau might be the man to get the Wild to turn the corner due to his track record. Falling short in the playoffs has been pretty overblown.

 

Ok, ok....I sincerely HOPE Bruce Boudreau proves every single naysayer wrong and he can win it all while with the Wild (maybe more than once!). I wouldn't mind being proven wrong either (I honestly didn't feel he was the best fit here...my vote would have gone to seeing if former Sens coach Paul MacLean would have been interested).

But to ignore his track record (the one we all know...great regular seasons, division titles included, but no Cup championships), is just plain silly.

 

Again, I hope he can prove everyone wrong, but until he does, that 'can't win in the playoffs' cloud is gonna hang dark and low above him and his teams, as far as I can see.

 

And some final things that I picked up out of the presser, coming from analysts:

----Bruce Boudreau will now build his coaching staff and FINE TUNE the roster.

 

To me, that is the nice way of saying, "Coaches are gonna get fired, Boudreau wants HIS guys in there"

And... "There may be some roster turnover".

Something I had alluded to in other posts, because, again, I feel Boudreau's style and the current Wild roster, don't mesh as nice as some analysts might have us believe.

Either Boudreau CAN get some of the current players to change some things, or he will simply want new players. Maybe a bit of both. But by NO MEANS, do I believe this Minnesota Wild roster will look the same next season.....for better or worse.

 

Some might think, 'Well, the Wild could use some change anyways'.

Fair enough. But to what degree? And is it really a 'tweak' or a complete overhaul under the new coach? Those are things I guess us fans will have to wait with bated breath on.

[Samifan]

7 hours ago, hf101 said:

Boudreau: "The fact that the whole state of Minnesota is hockey nuts I thought would be a real interesting difference coming from Anaheim."

 

 

That means the pressure to WIN a Game 7 at Home will be even greater Bruce.....

[SkyHigh30]

Boudreau is a definite positive for the Minnesota Wild. I think they will improve in the standings, but they are in such a difficult division that there are not going to sky rocket to the top with just Boudreau. They have the Stars, Blues, Blackhawks, and Preds to get ahead of and that is going to be tough. I think more importantly than getting Bruce Boudreau as coach they should try to get a top notch scorer to go with the others they have.

[hf101]

Something to read, and since I didn't read his book there was some interesting history of Bourdeau the player and coach.

http://www.winonadailynews.com/sports/pro/boudreau-s-hockey-life-comes-full-circle/article_dd37b812-0760-525f-8ef5-30837cc42dea.html

 

I didn't know he was in the movie slap shot.   

Quote

Boudreau lived in a sprawling pad in the middle of town with Paul Holmgren and Dave Hanson, who kept his last name in portraying one of the bespectacled goons in the movie.

“Dave and I were neat freaks and Bruce was not,” Holmgren recalled last week. “Bruce was Oscar Madison. It was a great house. We were young guys, and the veterans’ wives would come over and cook dinner for us.”

Hill used the trio’s apartment for scenes in which Paul Newman’s player-coach character, Reggie Dunlop, is unable to nap before a game because his telephone is constantly ringing after he went on the radio and put a bounty on the head of an opposing tough guy.

Boudreau also appeared briefly in game scenes as No. 7 on the Hyannisport Presidents and scored a goal.

1

 

“When somebody that famous asks you to do something, you take it seriously. I was extremely precise about all the techniques involved. After about 10 minutes, Paul said, ‘OK, kid, I’ve heard enough. I know all I need to know.’” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau,
on teaching actor Paul Newman a slap shot on the set of the movie “Slap Shot”

 

Holmgren and Bourdeau were roommates - polar opposites, kinda makes me laugh thinking about it as neither have won the Cup.

Quote

“It’s pretty astounding what he’s accomplished as a coach,” said Holmgren. “I think the Wild picked a guy that’s going to be a good fit.”

 

 

Let's hope so.

[OccamsRazor]

Wild Agrees To Terms With Free Agent Goaltender Adam Vay

 

http://wild.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=883070

 

 

 

The Minnesota Wild has agreed to terms with free agent goaltender Adam Vay on a two-year, entry-level contract.

Vay, 22 (3/22/94), posted a 3.67 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage (SV%) in three games for Hungary at the 2016 IIHF World Championship in Russia. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound native of Budapest, Hungary, made 35 saves in a 5-1 loss to the United States on May 13, made 48 saves in a 3-0 loss to Finland on May 11 and stopped 11-of-12 shots in relief on May 8 against Canada. He appeared in 39 games with Debreceni HK in the MOL League in 2015-16 and posted a 2.77 GAA, a .927 SV% and two shutouts. Vay led the league in SV% and ranked fifth in GAA amongst goalies that played a minimum of 30 contests.

 

Vay went 28-4-0 with a 2.03 GAA, a .923 SV% and five shutouts in 32 games with the El Paso Rhinos in the Western States Hockey League (WSHL) in 2014-15. He ranked T-1st in the league in shutouts, third in SV% and fourth in GAA as the Rhinos advanced to the Thorne Cup Final. Vay went 25-1-0 in 26 games with El Paso in 2013-14 and led the WSHL with a 1.76 GAA, a .936 SV% and ranked T-1st with five shutouts as the Rhinos won the 2014 Thorne Cup and National Championship.