Despite a 201-88-40 regular season record in his time with the Washington Capitals Bruce Boudreau was fired this morning as their head coach. The Capitals under the Boudreau’s direction had been known for tremendous regular season’s and playoff failures, but this season has been different. Boudreau appeared to have completely lost his locker room, especially stars Alexander Ovechkin and Alex Semin, which coupled with the team’s recent struggles now finds Boudreau out and replaced with former Capitals captain Dale Hunter.
Speculation of this move began last night with Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet saying that Boudreau could be out within 24-48 hours and Hunter would be the man to replace him. Now the question will be if the move to Hunter will reignite Ovechkin and Semin to the offensive forces they were before Boudreau tried to install a system more conducive to playoff success. Will the stars of this team respect a man who has never coached in the NHL or AHL before? Is Hunter's success as an OHL coach and captain of the Capitals enough to prepare him to deal with the pressure of expectations that Washington has because of their talent level? The answer to that questions will begin tomorrow night when the Capitals play St. Louis who has been inspired by the coaching change to Ken Hitchcock.
