After spending the last four years in St. Paul, Bruce Boudreau is out as head coach of the Minnesota Wild in what has to be the cruelest valentine in hockey history.
The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman were the first to report the news.
Hearing MIN making a coaching change, Bruce Boudreau is out. Wild making a charge, too. More to come, obviously
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 14, 2020
BREAKING: #mnwild coach Bruce Boudreau was fired this morning at TRIA by GM Bill Guerin
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 14, 2020
Former Capitals assistant coach Dean Evason will lead the team in the interim.
Boudreau learned of his dismissal right before the Wild’s 11:30 AM practice at Tria Rink. First-year general manager Bill Guerin delivered the news.
The firing comes after the Wild surrendered a 3-1 third-period lead to the New York Rangers and lost in the shootout 4-3. Minnesota, 27-23-7, sit in 11th place in the Western Conference standings and are only three points out of the second wildcard spot. As of late, they’ve been one of the better teams in the West, putting up a 6-3-1 record.
In his previous three seasons as head coach, Boudreau, who was tasked to get the team over the hump, could not get the team past the first round of the playoffs. Combined with some terrible GM’ing by former GM Paul Fenton, the Wild missed the postseason entirely last season.
Earlier this week, Guerin signaled a possible rebuild when he traded star forward Jason Zucker to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Alex Galchencyuk, top prospect Calen Addison, and a conditional first-round draft pick.
In 12 years as a head coach, Boudreau has a career record of 540-279-108 as a member of the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks, and Wild. He’s only advanced past the second round once during his career when he led to the Ducks to the Western Conference Finals in 2014-15.
— Platinum Seat Ghosts (@3rdPeriodSuits) February 14, 2020
— GOAT Trash (@goattrash) February 14, 2020
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