Guy Boucher hired as Ottawa's head coach + Crawford signed as assistant

Read this article: http://strib.mn/1q7JIWz

We didn't have a chance

Sounds like we really wasted our time.

Ev wrote:Read this article: http://strib.mn/1q7JIWz

We didn't have a chance

Actually, it's quite clear that we had a chance, but Minny drastically outbid us. Again, I'm fine without Boudreau, but he was Dorion's #1 choice but couldn't commit financially.

tim1_2 wrote:

Ev wrote:Read this article: http://strib.mn/1q7JIWz

We didn't have a chance

Actually, it's quite clear that we had a chance, but Minny drastically outbid us. Again, I'm fine without Boudreau, but he was Dorion's #1 choice but couldn't commit financially.

You didn't read hard enough. He was set on Minnesota before even coming to Ottawa

What's done is done. By most accounts we got a very solid coach, so let's see what happens.

Again, I look forward to seeing if boudreau can make a geriatric roster in minny do well.

SpezDispensed wrote:Sounds like we really wasted our time.

I didn't realize that Fletcher had already interviewed him earlier in the week.

The Wild made its initial offer to Boudreau on Friday night after he met with the Senators. The Wild increased the offer during back-and-forth negotiations by the time he left Ottawa on Saturday.

Very clearly, they made an offer, then he told them what Ottawa was offering, and they upped theirs. In other words he played us, just like I suspected.

tim1_2 wrote:

Ev wrote:Read this article: http://strib.mn/1q7JIWz

We didn't have a chance

Actually, it's quite clear that we had a chance, but Minny drastically outbid us. Again, I'm fine without Boudreau, but he was Dorion's #1 choice but couldn't commit financially.

The only thing clear is that he used the Ottawa "offer" to negotiate with Minnesota. He was not interested in negotiating with the Senators.

Like I said, I hadn't realized that he already spoke with the Wild before Ottawa. Now it makes perfect sense why he talked about his daughter and granddaughter -- that was part of his negotiating with the Wild.

So, anyone know the story behind that scar?

wprager wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:Boucher....


We dont have The type Of team to buy into The type Of game he coachs. This is The stupidest hire. You have to hire a couch that Goes with The team you have. How The Diddle is that going to play with karlsson? He's not gonna play The trap. Bet you he came in at a really low salary and 2 year deal.

Diddle me.

Your comments are right up there with calling Karlsson a "garbage pick" before seeing him take one shift with the team.  Well done!  

Really dude? It's not allowed to have an opinion based on him having coached another NHL team?
I'm not saying I won't change my mind about him but for now I think it might lead to problems with karlsson.

Flo The Action wrote:I'm still divided about what we have here. The D is a work in progress and always an injury away from a disaster. Nothing good to look at on the third pairing. The top 6 is getting there but a really big question marks on the left side. the 3rd line is ok but it's likely going to drop off since there is no possible way zach smoth comes close to reproducing his success and we are going to need a replacement for Chiasson that can score in the right
Hoffman is likely getting dealt and I really doubt we will get something back that can help us in the same respect.
So no I'm not sure we have a better team to be honest.

First off no team has a great third pairing. Secondly, Zachary Smith certainly has a chance to come close to 20 again, he might not do it but there is a chance. Lastly, how the hell do you know Hoffman is likely to be dealt, Dorion has no track record for you to base this on.

Hard to really predict coaching in general but he got the most out of that Tampa team. They had Stamkos, St Louis and a bunch of nobodys. Defense was horrid. They had MA Bergeron and Matt Gilroy in their top 4 IIRC

EDIT: After a quick research:
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0000552011.html

How he got 46W/103 pts out of that group is remarkable

Oglethorpe wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:I'm still divided about what we have here. The D is a work in progress and always an injury away from a disaster. Nothing good to look at on the third pairing. The top 6 is getting there but a really big question marks on the left side. the 3rd line is ok but it's likely going to drop off since there is no possible way zach smoth comes close to reproducing his success and we are going to need a replacement for Chiasson that can score in the right
Hoffman is likely getting dealt and I really doubt we will get something back that can help us in the same respect.
So no I'm not sure we have a better team to be honest.

First off no team has a great third pairing.  Secondly, Zachary Smith certainly has a chance to come close to 20 again, he might not do it but there is a chance.  Lastly, how the hell do you know Hoffman is likely to be dealt, Dorion has no track record for you to base this on.  

They said they would bring change and Hoffman seemed like the guy they were not all to happy about. Plus there still doesn't seem to be any contract negotiations.

Did you see the shot % on Smith? Its like over 20%. Thats completely unrealistic. No way does he pot 20 again let alone 25. Smith is a 10-15 goal guy.
Ok so I don't expect to have a 3 Rd pairing that looks like a second pairing but it would be nice to get a vet that helps out a bit. We can do ok with call-ups on the left but it looks pretty bad on the right. I think getting a guy for the right on for the 3rd pairing would help a lot.
And yeah, we're gonna need a top 6 left winger I think.

I think they'll get a veteran dman and try to add aother top six player.

It was apparently boucher that showed up with a 5 hour presentation on how to remedy Ottawa's porous defence.

And Crawford wasn't someone I was excited about as head coach, but as assistant I could get on board.

We should hear rumours at some point regarding Hoffman as well. Do they go 5 years, or try for shorter?

Ev wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

Ev wrote:Read this article: http://strib.mn/1q7JIWz

We didn't have a chance

Actually, it's quite clear that we had a chance, but Minny drastically outbid us. Again, I'm fine without Boudreau, but he was Dorion's #1 choice but couldn't commit financially.

You didn't read hard enough. He was set on Minnesota before even coming to Ottawa

Hindsight is 20/20. It should be a learning experience for Dorion and Co., they should have been more proactive and aggressive in their pursuit. Can affect future UFA pursuits. But yeah that sucks that BB was so deeply engaged with Minnesota.

Flo The Action wrote:

wprager wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:Boucher....


We dont have The type Of team to buy into The type Of game he coachs. This is The stupidest hire. You have to hire a couch that Goes with The team you have. How The Diddle is that going to play with karlsson? He's not gonna play The trap. Bet you he came in at a really low salary and 2 year deal.

Diddle me.

Your comments are right up there with calling Karlsson a "garbage pick" before seeing him take one shift with the team.  Well done!  

Really dude? It's not allowed to have an opinion based on him having coached another NHL team?
I'm not saying I won't change my mind about him but for now I think it might lead to problems with karlsson.

You are allowed to have an opinion, just as I am allowed to have mine, and my opinion is that you are per-judging the guy before he has spent on minute with the team. This guy was supposed to be one of the brightest up-and-comers in coaching ranks. What happened there? Not sure, I've read some reports about him losing the room but another report talked about goaltending and injuries, among other stuff:
- Lindback and Garon in goal, both barely over .900 SV%
- Marty St Louis had a great year (leading the team with 60 points in 48 games) but he was pissed off that Yzerman left him off the Olympic roster so maybe that had an effect in the room
- They had 37 players in total and 21 of them played in 24 or fewer games (24 being half the shortened season); by comparison, this past season the Sens also had 37 players in total, and 19 of them appeared in half the games or fewer. I believe that's a good indicator of injuries and call-ups having to fill in.

Also, in a shortened season it's a lot more difficult to adjust and fix things.

Personally, I never thought much about Boucher as a candidate, but for the same reason (i.e. lack of knowledge about the guy) I'm willing to see how this plays out. I'll give the team a check-up at the 10 and 20 game mark, to see if they've improved defensively and on special teams.