Following a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, Tampa Bay General Manager Steve Yzerman has finally made his move, firing Head Coach Guy Boucher.
Yzerman said the following in a prepared statement “”Guy has poured his heart and soul into the Lightning organization for these past three years and we appreciate all the work he has done, but ultimately I am not satisfied with the direction we are heading and I believe making a change today is in the best interest of our franchise.”
Boucher was hired prior to the 2010-11 season, where the rookie head coach led the Bolts to a 46-10-11 record and 5th place in the Eastern Conference. Playoff victories over the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Washington Capitals put the Lightning into the Eastern Conference Final, where they fell just short, losing 1-0 in game 7 to the Boston Bruins.
Its been all downhill from that early promise though, as the Bolts finished 38-36-8 last year, 10th in the Eastern Conference, and missed the playoffs. The Lightning are 13-17-1 this season. They sit in 14th place in the Eastern Conference and fourth in the Southeast Division. Despite that, they are just five points out of 8th place and the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Assistant coaches’ Martin Raymond and Dan Lacroix will share the coaching responsibilities for today’s game against Winnipeg, while Yzerman searches for a permanent replacement. One name that has been mentionned a lot is the coach of the Syracuse Crunch, Tampa’s AHL Affiliate, Jon Cooper. The Crunch currently sit in first place in the AHL, and last season Cooper led Norfolk (then Tampa’s AHL Affilliate) to multiple league records and a Calder Cup Championship.
One aspect that could work against Cooper, is his lack of NHL head coaching experience. After hiring a rookie coach in Boucher, then a hotshot AHL coach, Yzerman may be looking for an experienced NHL bench boss for his next hire. Boucher was hired after leading Montreal’s AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs, to the AHL’s Western Conference final in 2010.
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