That sounds crazy with Boucher only in his second season in Tampa Bay, but it's true after both Bruce Boudreau and Paul Maurice were fired on Monday by the Capitals and the Hurricanes, respectively. Both were replaced with coaches who have never been behind the bench in an NHL game. Here's the breakdown:
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- Guy Boucher, Lightning -- 123 games (including 18 playoff games) ↵
- Kevin Dineen, Panthers -- 23 games ↵
- Claude Noel, Jets -- 23 games ↵
- Dale Hunter, Capitals -- 0 games ↵
- Kirk Muller, Hurricanes -- 0 games ↵
Boucher has coached in nearly three times as many NHL games as the rest of the coaches in the Southeast Division combined. Not to say that Hunter or Muller won't be able coaches. Hunter's #32 is retired by the Capitals and he's been a successful coach in junior hockey for over a decade, while Muller is a 19-year NHL veteran and longtime assistant coach. And unlike most other sports, hockey coaches, even successful ones, get hired and fired pretty freely. It's just funny to think that Boucher has almost as much playoff coaching experience as anyone else in the division has NHL coaching experience.
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