Column: Ducks’ cold play keeps Coach Bruce Boudreau on hot seat, and it’s getting hotter
Anaheim Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau watches during the first period of a preseason game against the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 3.
Bruce Boudreau seemed surprised at the number of reporters clustered around him Friday, after his team returned from an 0-4-1 trip with a conference-lagging 1-7-2 record. They might have been surprised he was still coaching the underachieving Ducks.
“Hello, world,” Boudreau said, not quite smiling.
He remains part of the Ducks’ world for now, but the pressure to win is intensifying on him and on them. They played well enough in parts of their last three games — at Chicago, Dallas and St. Louis — to bring energy to their practice Friday at Honda Center and keep Boudreau employed through their next game, at home Sunday against Nashville. If they continue to struggle, though, General Manager Bob Murray would be justified in losing his patience.
Asked about Boudreau’s employment prospects, Murray released a statement indicating he wasn’t ready to act yet but will remain vigilant.
“We were one game away from the Final just five months ago. So while this has been a terrible start, I’m not inclined to make rash changes. I’m going to be patient,” he said. “That said, we are severely underperforming as a group. I can’t recall a time where a vast majority of our players have underachieved simultaneously, and I fully expect a turnaround.”
And if it doesn’t occur soon?
Murray has several options: fire Boudreau, trade for a scorer, or break up a team that finished No. 1 in the West last season. A trade might provide a jolt but a total tear-down makes no sense and would be logistically difficult. Players said they don’t want Murray to choose the first option because they believe in Boudreau and know it’s their responsibility to perform, which is true enough.
Ryan Getzlaf drew a contrast to the atmosphere in the days before Randy Carlyle was fired and replaced by Boudreau in November 2011.
“You got the feeling in the room that maybe some guys were not listening anymore, and I don’t have that feeling at this point,” said Getzlaf, who underwent an appendectomy Wednesday and has resumed light exercise.
“Bruce is doing what he does. Our assistants are doing what they do. And it’s just a matter of playing that consistent brand of hockey. They’re putting together the game plan. We’ve got to go out and execute it.”
That Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Jakob Silfverberg and Andrew Cogliano would have no goals after 10 games is unthinkable. It might be a byproduct of the many off-season changes Murray made, although his hand was forced in some cases.
Winger Matt Beleskey wanted a five-year deal and a no-trade clause and the Ducks wouldn’t agree; replacing him by trading Emerson Etem for speedy Carl Hagelin seemed smart because Etem had been given many chances and simply couldn’t finish. Trading winger Kyle Palmieri for draft picks was tough but he was heading into his last season before restricted free agency and the Ducks have a self-imposed budget well below the salary cap. Defenseman François Beauchemin wanted a three-year contract at 35 and was expendable because of the promising young defense corps.
Cogliano called the changes “a little bit of a consideration” in the early chaos but didn’t blame Boudreau for frequently juggling the lines during the season.
“I think we’re still in a little bit of who-fits-with-who adjustments but I think that’s on the players now,” Cogliano said. “It’s a matter of everyone’s just got to go out and make it work because we’re not in a position now to say, ‘Oh, I don’t play good with him, or I don’t fit here, I don’t fit there.’ You have to go out and make yourself fit because we don’t have any time to waste.”
In other words, it’s early but it’s later than you think — but not too late.
“The answers are still in here. I feel that way and other people do, too,” defenseman Cam Fowler said. “We just have to be patient even though it’s tough to do. But we have a good little stretch of home games here where we can really focus on what we want to do and hopefully get some better results.”
If not, their world will be shaken up considerably.
Twitter: @helenenothelen
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