Bruce Boudreau Would be a Great Fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs

The 65-year-old ex-head coach is reportedly interested in being an assistant coach for the  Toronto Maple Leafs

As the Toronto Maple Leafs have two assistant coach vacancies available, one was fired and the other took the opening as the head coach for the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL, they are starting their search to fill those roles.

The search for an assistant coach has led them to former head coach Bruce Boudreau who was recently the head coach of the Minnesota Wild until his dismissal in February. From reading reports, the Leafs apparently were interested in interviewing him while he was still with the Wild but permission will no longer be needed.

His coaching tour doesn’t only land in Minnesota as he was also the head coach at different points for the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks.

Toronto Maple Leafs Coaching Position

As mentioned before, I didn’t see how a 65-year-old coach who has more of an old school playing style would fit with a new school playing style in a 39-year-old coach but looking into it more, Boudreau would be a perfect fit in Toronto.

When Boudreau was the boss of the bench, his team had relative success as in a 10 year total as head coach, he’s made the playoffs each time except once and has a career record of 567-302-115. In the playoffs, his record comes to 90-43-47.

One thing that the Toronto Maple Leafs will really benefit from having Boudreau on their bench is how he’s developed a penchant for strong defensive play.  As head coach, his teams have done relatively well defensively due to his prioritization of defense and his development of defensemen.

To add to this, in three full seasons as the head coach of the Wild, they owned the best expected goals against per 60 minutes and in the 2019-20 season, had the best xGA/60 until he got fired. (naturalstattrick.com).

Boudreau would  be great for the development of young defensemen Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin. He could also help out with newcomer defenseman Mikko Lehtonen in adjusting to life in the NHL and North America while playing in a big hockey market in Toronto.

While Boudreau has stated that he’s very interested in the position for multiple reasons, his preference is to be a head coach. The Seattle Kraken and just recently, the Capitals are the only teams in need of a bench boss but there are also three teams (Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks) who don’t have a full-time head coach.

One thing that could bring Boudreau back home where he grew up is money. Whoever the Toronto Maple Leafs hire to help out Keefe will be the highest paid assistant coach, however much that may be.

If Keefe, Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan are successful in luring Boudreau to Toronto as an assistant coach, this would be huge for the Leafs. Let’s hope it happens.