As the season nears, it seems there are more days with big hockey news. Earlier today, the Ducks announced that they had given head coach Bruce Boudreau a two-year contract extension.
Entering the final year of his deal, Boudreau is now under contract by the Ducks until after the 2016-2017 season.
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Boudreau is the eighth head coach for the Ducks and was hired almost immediately after the team fired Randy Carlyle during the 2011-2012 season. The Ducks, who were 7-13-4 at the time of Carlyle’s firing, went 27-23-8 under Boudreau the rest of the way. During the next two seasons, Anaheim flourished under Boudreau, going 84-32-14 in 130 regular season games the last two seasons. The Ducks were 4th in power play conversion percentage in 2012-2013 and led the league in goals scored in 2013-2014 under Boudreau. Center Ryan Getzlaf had a career year last year, scoring 31 goals (a new career high) and 87 points while finishing second in the Hart Trophy voting. The team won the Pacific Division both years as well, finishing 2nd and 1st in the Western Conference, respectively (3rd and 2nd in the entire NHL as well).
The main criticism of Boudreau is that his teams are unable to win in the playoffs. His 2010 Washington Capitals, who won the President’s Trophy and dominated the Eastern Conference that year, infamously blew a 3-1 series lead to the eighth seeded Montreal Canadiens. He has a 1-5 record in Game 7’s as a head coach, including an 0-2 mark in Anaheim with losses to the Detroit Red Wings in the 2013 1st round and Los Angeles Kings in the 2014 2nd round, as the Ducks whimpered their way out of the postseason with no-shows in both of those win-or-go-home games.
However, the Ducks’ true window of Stanley Cup contention is now. With the offseason trade for Ryan Kesler, the Ducks have a true No. 2 center to compete with the elite teams of the Western Conference, such as the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings. Also, it seems that the Ducks are looking to give John Gibson, the young goalie phenom prospect, a chance to assert himself as the franchise goalie.
While departed veteran Jonas Hiller has fantastic postseason numbers, most of those came from the incredible run he had in 2009 when the team upset the top seeded San Jose Sharks and took the eventual Western Conference Champion Detroit Red Wings to seven games. Hiller showed himself to be markedly average the past couple of seasons. Starting Gibson, who has drawn comparisons to Carey Price, is potentially another game-changing move in the loaded Western Conference, and it could ultimately vault the Ducks into the field of true Stanley Cup contenders.
Remember, the contract extension is only for two seasons. This is no long-term extension: if Bruce Boudreau is to get long-term security with the club, he must take the Ducks on a deep playoff run.
With the team’s Stanley Cup window now officially open with Kesler and Gibson, Boudreau must shed the label that he cannot win in the playoffs if he is to get another extension with the club.
He took a very bad team and has made them relevant. Now? He has to take a good team and take them over the top.
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