ORLANDO, FLA – The official start of the holiday shopping season, the day after Thanksgiving, is referred to by shoppers and merchants as “Black Friday”. Around the NHL, today could easily be called “Black Monday”.
In the space of a few hours Monday morning, two NHL coaches were shown the door while two more quickly jumped up the ladder to replace them. Early in the day, the Washington Capitals announced that they had parted ways with head coach Bruce Boudreau and replaced him with former Caps captain Dale Hunter. Not too long after, the Carolina Hurricanes fired coach Paul Maurice and hired Milwaukee Admirals coach Kirk Muller to run the team.
Both Boudreau and Maurice had been on the hot seat for several weeks, each fighting to get their respective teams moving in a positive direction. Given the talent on both squads, the lack of success during the first quarter of the season proved costly.
Boudreau was handed the reigns of the Capitals in 2007 after coaching the Caps’
Washington coach Bruce Boudreau (center) was fired Monday morning (photo courtesy of NHL)
Despite four straight Southeast Division titles, three straight 100-point plus seasons and a President’s Trophy as the top team in the NHL in 2010, the Capitals’ lack of playoff success haunted Boudreau. The most stunning failure may have been that 2010 playoff season when top-seeded Washington was ousted in the first round by eighth-seeded Montreal in seven games following a 121-point regular season.
This year, the Capitals were 12-9-1, including a 5-1 loss to Buffalo on Saturday night. Boudreau didn’t get much help from his star-studded lineup as Alexander Ovechkin has just eight goals in those 22 games while Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin also have failed to live up to offensive expectations.
“It’s never easy to let a coach go, and Bruce was a popular personality who helped turn around our franchise,” Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said in his blog. “Despite what transpired on the ice this year, I always will be thankful for Bruce’s time with the Capitals and will remember him fondly. He is a great coach who I’m confident will land another spot in the NHL.”
Hunter, who played for the Capitals from 1987-1999, comes in as a highly-touted coach at the junior level. He turned the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League into a dominant franchise as he compiled a 451-189-23-24 mark behind the bench. He is the fastest coach in OHL history to reach both 300 and 400 wins while his .691 winning percentage is the best ever. The 2004-2005 season might have been the best of his 11 seasons in London. That year the Knights went 59-7-2-0 and won the Memorial Cup championship.
Hunter also brings with him a reputation as a player development-style coach second to none. During his stay in London, he aided the careers of future NHL stars Rick Nash (Columbus), Corey Perry (Anaheim), Dan Girardi (NY Rangers), Michael Del Zotto (NY Rangers), John Carlson (Washington) and Patrick Kane (Chicago). Perry took home both the Rocket Richard and Hart Trophies in 2011.
The choice of Hunter will undoubtedly be popular with Capitals fans. Hunter, whose number 32 jersey is one of four retired by the franchise, currently sits fifth on the Washington all-time points list with 556 and atop the mountain with 2,003 penalty minutes. He posted five 20-goal seasons and led the team to ten playoff appearances in his eleven seasons.
Hours later, Carolina made its announcement that Maurice, who was in his second go-round with the franchise, had been relieved of his duties.
Maurice’s situation in Raleigh was similar to that of Boudreau’s in that his Hurricanes were underachieving so far this season. Carolina currently sits in 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings with a dismal 8-13-4 record. Coming on the heels of a collapse at the end of last season when the team failed to win its final regular season game against Tampa and missed the playoffs. The final straw appears to have been Sunday’s 4-3 loss to Ottawa.
Like his counterpart in Washington, Maurice’s talented lineup failed him. Captain Eric Staal, who was expected to be a scoring machine, has just five goals and six assists in the 25 games played by the Hurricanes so far while posting a league-worst minus-17 rating. Goalie Cam Ward, who won the 2006 Conn Smythe Award as playoff MVP during Carolina’s Stanley Cup championship run, is just 8-10-3 with a .905 save percentage so far.
Since taking over for Peter Laviolette in December of 2008, Maurice was 116-100-30 but he failed to get the Hurricanes into the playoffs in all but the 2008-2009 season. During his initial stint with the franchise, he posted a 268-291 record with 99 ties and 16 overtime or shootout losses spanning eight seasons including the final two when the team was known as the Hartford Whalers before moving to Raleigh.
Muller takes over for Maurice after having traveled a
Milwaukee Admirals%27 coach Kirk Muller was tabbed to replace Paul Maurice in Carolina (photo courtesy of NHL)
Muller brings with him a 19-year career as a player, having suited up for New Jersey, Montreal, the New York Islanders, Florida and Dallas. Over that time he amassed 959 points in 1,349 games as well as six All-Star Game appearances and a Stanley Cup championship with Montreal in 1993.
To comment on this story, contact us at comment@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.