Guy Boucher bringing new perspective to second NHL gig

The Ottawa Senators are convinced they have the man in charge who can turn the team around and get them back into the playoffs on a consistent basis after missing the postseason two of the last three years.

Senators GM Pierre Dorion again assured everyone that Guy Boucher was the organization’s first choice to replace Dave Cameron as head coach, and he’s quite confident the move will lead to future success.

“A good coach makes a bad team into a fair team, a fair team into a good team, a good team into a real good team, and a really great coach makes a good team into an excellent team,” Dorion said at Monday’s press conference. “A good coach can have a really big impact. With Guy, I really feel we have that in him for our organization.”

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The Senators have a lot of areas that need improvement, including special teams which saw them finish in the bottom five in both categories.

Boucher has promoted an aggressive power play, which could be fun to watch with Erik Karlsson running things. But looking back at his Tampa days, the power play and penalty kill units were up and down during his two and a half seasons with the Lightning.

2011-12: 20.5% / 83.8%
2011-12: 15.2% / 79.2%
2013: 19% / 80.6% (Full season numbers. Boucher coached 31 of 48 games.) 

“Power play is, more than anything else, details,' Boucher said. "The minute details matter for power play for me.”

That aggressive power play also saw the Lightning finish first and second in shorthanded goals allowed (16, 12, respectively) in his two full seasons. 

"My strengths over the years have been to bring some speed, some immediate threat mentality on the power play and on 5-on-5 offense," said Boucher. "I was lucky enough to coach many stars. Being able to manage individuals is probably my biggest strength. It's not systems. Systems change every year. You change every period. Every game you tweak things. You use what you need to use at certain times. The biggest thing is to manage people and connect; connect with the younger generation."

It’s been over three years now since Boucher was fired by the Lightning. He spent parts of three seasons with SC Bern of the Swiss league and feels now, at age 44, he’s much better prepared for his second NHL job. 

“I’ve learned quite a bit over the last little while. The fact that you live the NHL, just living it, regardless of [whether] you have success or not, I think is key because it’s a grind,” Boucher said. “Until you live it you can’t understand what it is. So that’s taken care of. I know what to expect. I came barging in the AHL as a young 38-year-old and you kind of go your way and you decide to adjust later; whereas I think now coming in a second time, the perspective is different, the planning will be different, managing players, though, that won’t be any different. 

“I think that’s something that’s been one of my strengths, connecting with players, managing the intangibles, relationships, chemistry, leadership and all that. That’s something I’ll keep doing the same, but I think in the NHL there’s a lot of things you can’t control. When you start in your first gig it’s hard to accept. Over time you realize there’s things you’re not going to control… and that will give me lot more energy to be spent somewhere else, where it’s going to matter more.”

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy

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