Can Boudreau Lead Ducks to Stanley Cup?

Can Boudreau Lead Ducks to Stanley Cup?

The Anaheim Ducks lost only one game during the first two rounds of the 2014-15 playoffs before running into the Chicago Blackhawks in the conference finals, ending Bruce Boudreau’s latest Stanley Cup bid. He is no stranger to that particular brand of disappointment; early postseason exits have become something of a theme in the course of his NHL coaching career.

From Washington to Anaheim: A Pattern of Regular-Season Success

The Washington Capitals Era

Boudreau first took on the role of NHL head coach in November 2007 with the Washington Capitals. Following the 2007-08 season, he coached the Capitals for three more full seasons, leading them to four straight division titles followed by four disappointing first- or second-round playoff defeats. Despite his regular-season success, frustration over the underwhelming postseason performance led the Capitals to fire Boudreau on November 28, 2011. Two days later, he was hired by the Anaheim Ducks. He had a rocky start in the Western Conference, and the Ducks finished the 2011-12 season last in their division, but he was soon able to right the ship, and the team has since made three consecutive postseason appearances.

Déjà Vu in Anaheim

Since arriving in Anaheim in 2011, Bruce Boudreau must be feeling a certain amount of déjà vu. He arrived in November to bail out an ailing team, transforming it from a chronic underachiever into a division powerhouse within a single season. Just as in Washington, Boudreau has led his team to three straight division titles — but the Bruce Boudreau Stanley Cup breakthrough has yet to arrive. While in Washington, Boudreau earned the Jack Adams Award for outstanding coaching in 2008 and led the team to a Presidents’ Trophy win in the 2009-10 season, the first in franchise history. Boudreau reached 200 wins in a shorter span than any other coach in NHL history while coaching the Capitals; later, with Anaheim, he also became the fastest to reach 300 wins, in just 496 career games. In his first seven years coaching in the NHL, he never had a losing season. He’s also experienced postseason success at the AHL level: under his leadership, the Hershey Bears won the Calder Cup in 2006 and returned to the finals in 2007, though they lost in Game 5 to the Hamilton Bulldogs. Replicating that feat at the professional level is certainly a taller task, but given his regular-season accolades and the quality of talent he’s had on his rosters, it seems as though Boudreau should have at least secured a conference title by now.

The Game 7 Problem

One telling statistic may be the performance of teams under Boudreau’s leadership in Game 7 situations. Between 2007 and 2011, Washington went 1-3 in Game Sevens, with their sole win coming in the first round of the 2007-08 season to eliminate the New York Rangers and advance to the conference semifinals — where they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in another Game 7. Despite the hard-fought nature of the series up to that point, Pittsburgh was dominant in the final game, coming away with a 6-2 victory. The Anaheim Ducks under Bruce Boudreau have fared no better in these do-or-die situations, going 0-3 in Game Sevens from 2013 to 2015. Their 2014 loss to the Los Angeles Kings showed eerie similarities to Washington’s loss to Pittsburgh in 2008: both were crushing second-round losses following hard-fought series, both games ended in a score of 6-2, and both the Penguins and the Kings went on to the Cup Finals. While these could be read as two cases of bad luck against hot teams on their way to the top, one has to wonder when it will be Boudreau’s team riding that hot streak.

Looking Ahead to a Cup Run

In the 2015 playoffs, Bruce Boudreau reached the conference finals for the first time in his coaching career. After missing the playoffs in 2012, Anaheim advanced a round further in each subsequent postseason appearance. If the Ducks hope to continue that trend and finally deliver the Bruce Boudreau Stanley Cup breakthrough fans have waited years for, he will have to exorcise his Game 7 demons and succeed where he has previously fallen short — standing strong with the series on the line.