Two big name head coaches were relieved of their duties today. The Washington Capitals fired four-year bench boss Bruce Boudreau, and the Carolina Hurricanes let go of their coach for the past three seasons, Paul Maurice. Both teams have been underachieving throughout November, and both clubs' administrations respectively felt it was time for a change.
The Capitals, after getting off to a league leading 10-2-0 start through the first 12 games of the 2011-12 season, have stumbled tremendously during the course of the past month. Washington has gone 3-7-1 in the 11 games since their start, and have also had to deal with a struggling captain in Alexander Ovechkin, an overpaid misfit growing more distant from "team" mentality in Alexander Semin, a goalie who seems to believe nonchalantly shuffling from post-to-post is an effective goaltending strategy in Tomas Vokoun, as well as an entire roster of players that just have been plagued by fundamental errors recently. Last year, the Capitals went through a long stretch of futility chronicled by HBO's 24/7 series, but Boudreau and his team were able to collect the pieces of their season and put it back together to earn the best record in the Eastern Conference. Caps' GM George McPhee clearly did not think Boudreau could do so again this year, so he's out, and Capitals legend and fan-favorite Dale Hunter is in.
McPhee sent Boudreau a text message, that he received at 6:30 am, informing him that he had lost his job as "as result of the performance over the past 10 games." Regarding rumors that the move was prompted by the poor play of the team's superstar, Alex Ovechkin, or a growing rift between him and his coach, McPhee was quoted as saying, "I don't think this has anything to do with Ovechkin. I think it's got everything to do with this team not playing well." He also noted that Ovi will remain the team's captain.
After practice today, Ovechkin was predictably interviewed and was asked for his thoughts on the subject, to which he responded, "Everybody was in shock." Mike Knuble was also asked several questions, and had glowing things to say of his now former coach, but is also ready to move on with Dale Hunter at the helm.
Coming into this season, the Hurricanes, with offseason additions of Tomas Kaberle, Anthony Stewart, Alexei Ponikarovsky, and Tim Brent, were expected to not only make the playoffs, but possibly make a deep push towards the Stanley Cup. These expectations would prove to be Paul Maurice's downfall. An inconsistent club, and underperforming captain and superstar in Eric Staal, and pitiful 3rd period performances during the year have made Caniacs feeling like an 8th seed in the playoffs would be a blessing at this point. The 'Canes sit last in the Southeast Division and searching for answers as to why they cannot string together more wins than they already have. Whether it is the correct answer or not is yet to be seen, but the first answer we've been presented with is the firing of Maurice, and hiring of the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals' coach, Kirk Muller.
Muller, who was only in his first year of AHL coaching, had gone 10-6-0-1 with Milwaukee before being scooped up
by Carolina's staff.
With these two moves being made today, many are wondering how long it is going to take now for similar actions to be taken in other cities, the most notable being Anaheim. The Ducks, who have a roster loaded with talent that includes the league's reigning MVP, Corey Perry, have been terrible so far this season. They're dead last in the Pacific Division, have a 6-13-4 record, goalie Jonas Hiller has not been able to regain his All-Star form since his episodes with vertigo that ended his season last year, Jason Blake had his forearm lacerated in a game back in October and hasn't played since, basically nothing is going right for Anaheim, and head coach Randy Carlyle doesn't have much longer to turn things around. It is unsure whether or not Anaheim will choose to make a trade or fire their skipper to shake things up in an attempt to move their season in a more positive direction, but Carlyle should approach every day in the near future like his Ducks career is in jeopardy, not one of his player's. I give Carlyle no later than December 14th to turn things around in Anaheim before he is no longer behind the bench.
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| Forget Crosby, forget Ovechkin, Boudreau was the true break-out star of HBO's 24/7 series!!! |
McPhee sent Boudreau a text message, that he received at 6:30 am, informing him that he had lost his job as "as result of the performance over the past 10 games." Regarding rumors that the move was prompted by the poor play of the team's superstar, Alex Ovechkin, or a growing rift between him and his coach, McPhee was quoted as saying, "I don't think this has anything to do with Ovechkin. I think it's got everything to do with this team not playing well." He also noted that Ovi will remain the team's captain.
After practice today, Ovechkin was predictably interviewed and was asked for his thoughts on the subject, to which he responded, "Everybody was in shock." Mike Knuble was also asked several questions, and had glowing things to say of his now former coach, but is also ready to move on with Dale Hunter at the helm.
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| This is actually the 2nd time Maurice has been fired by Carolina. He served as head coach for the franchise from 1996-2004 and, most recently, 2008-11. |
Muller, who was only in his first year of AHL coaching, had gone 10-6-0-1 with Milwaukee before being scooped up
by Carolina's staff.
