Toronto is about as hectic of a hockey market as there is. Coaches and players are constantly under scrutiny from the public eye, with every move and action being dramatically magnified by the microscope of the fans and media. When coaches agree to come to Toronto, that pressure is something that has to be considered. If you don’t like being scrutinized, it isn’t the job for you. Guy Boucher, the former head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, is no stranger to public scrutiny himself, is reportedly on the radar for the Leafs heading coaching vacancy.
Boucher, who’s coached the Swiss team SC Bern since 2014, said on TSN Drive with Dave Naylor that if the right opportunity presented itself, he’d welcome back a return to the NHL:
“It would certainly be in the right situation, with the right people. And if I fit, it would certainly interest me, but like I said, it has to be in the right situation because I have a very good situation right now. I’ve been approached, so it’s a possibility. We’ll see what happens.”
TSN’s Darren Dreger later tweeted out the Leafs have Boucher on their radar:
Leafs still looking at gm + coaching options. It's believed Tor contacted Guy Boucher. Boucher told TSN 1050 an NHL team had made contact.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 6, 2015
Also told Leafs would like to speak with NYR asst gm Jeff Gorton about gm job in Tor, however, at the moment NYR aren't granting permission.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 6, 2015
Boucher’s 1-3-1 system was widely mocked, which made it easy to forget the success he had, leading the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season coaching in the NHL, only to lose 1-0 in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins. Boucher posted a respectable 97-78-20 record in his two and a half seasons with Tampa Bay.
As Thomas Drance pointed out, one current member of Leafs hockey ops, Cam Charron, has written about how Boucher would make a suitable coaching candidate (published before he was hired by the Leafs). He wrote:
I like Boucher not necessarily because he had a good counter-attacking system, but mostly because he was able to get his players to stick to that system. If he ends up with an NHL team again, I don’t think we’ll see as extreme of a 1-3-1 or a repeat of the ‘stall tactic’ on national TV again, but Boucher has the right idea trying to corner puck carriers to the boards. The 1-3-1 is a means to an end.
Now obviously Charron doesn’t carry the weight of making a head coaching decision, but it’s a neat little tidbit with the reported interest.
Ultimately, it’s possible the Leafs pass on Boucher and hand over their coaching job to someone else. The position entails a long and much needed rebuild. One of the big free agent coaches isn’t walking through the door because unlike other rebuilding teams like Edmonton, the Leafs don’t have enough can’t miss prospects coming up the pipeline to justify entering the blitz of the Toronto market. However, a guy like Boucher, who’s shown he can coach in the league and just needs another chance, seems like an ideal fit.
