Amidst calls for Andy Reid to be fired in Philadelphia, another rotund regular season winner was shown the door in our neighbor to the south. The Washington Capitals have announced the firing of head coach Bruce Boudreau, who will be replaced by former Cap Dale Hunter today.
Despite compiling a 201-88-40 record since taking over the team almost exactly four years ago, Boudreau has had little success in the postseason. So far in 2011-2012, with an assembly of players picked by many as the Stanley Cup favorites, Boudreau has coached the Capitals to a record slightly above .500, but that mark doesn't convey the soap opera that has been unfolding at the Verizon Center.
Also, although there are five months worth of games still left on the long NHL season, "just above .500" leaves the Caps as both the second place team in their division, only the eighth best team in the conference, five points ahead of second worst. There's a lot of time to get the team on track, but there must have been some fear that this talented team might actually miss the playoffs. And, even if they did make it, Boudreau had shown little ability to put it all together for a springtime run.
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Boudreau wasn't the only NHL coach given a stay of execution over the Thanksgiving holiday only to be terminated today… TSN's Bob McKenzie reports that the Carolina Hurricanes have fired Paul Maurice and replaced him with Kirk Muller. Maurice both preceded and succeeded Peter Laviolette in Carolina.
Puck Daddy has a nice summary of the fall of Boudreau and the beginning of the Hunter Era in DC here.
Maybe Dale will have less time to troll now.