At its best, the NHL can’t be beat for debuting a new coach. It’s more than a local event. There’s nothing provincial about French-speaking media cell-phoning back to the Canadian mother ship. Who can’t use a touch of élan?
And where else would you hear the new guy in charge, in this case the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Guy Boucher (GEE boo-SHAY), giving an extended shout-out of gratitude–in French–to fellow Quebecers and Montreal influentials. (In contrast, you can bet nobody had to include phonetic-pronunciation guides for Raheem Morris or Joe Maddon.)
Sharing the dais with Hall of Fame General Manager Steve Yzerman, who oozes class, Boucher looked and sounded like the hockey gods’ response to Bolts’ entreaties after three years in the playoff-less wilderness. A deus ex machina to finally erase the Barry Melrose reign of ridicule.
Boucher, 38, has a Central Casting look, stare, smile, scar and back story. He recovered from a life-threatening virus that ended his playing career in his 20’s.
And he’s not sound-bite challenged on most subjects. When asked about his illness and frustrating, nearly five-year recovery, he mixed a sports metaphor to make his point. “Life threw me a curve ball,” he explained. “But it doesn’t mean you can’t hit it. There’s always a way out. I tend to believe when no one does.”
When asked about the prominent scar on his right cheek, he was coy. Only that it’s not hockey-related and even his three kids, 8-year-old Vincent and 6-year-old twin girls Mila and Naomi, don’t know. Presumably, his wife Marsha is privy. For now, it’s part of his mystique. Johnny Depp on one side; Al Pacino on the other.
He’s also well-educated–as in bachelor degrees in history and biosystems engineering from McGill University and a master’s in sports psychology from the University of Montreal. Boucher is not only the NHL’s youngest coach, but an early favorite for resident renaissance man. No surprise, he’s an avid chess player.
The Canadian media have already dubbed the fast-tracking native of Notre-Dame-du-Lac in Quebec a coup for the Lightning. Boucher rapidly built a record of success in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, impressed insiders with his work for Hockey Canada and then last season earned coach of the year honors for the American Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs, the Montreal Canadiens’ top minor league affiliate. He was considered the Canadiens’ coach in waiting. Jimbo Fisher on skates.
He was also tantamount to a natural resource in a country–and a province–that follows hockey with religious fervor. His hiring in Tampa Bay, hardly a hockey hotbed, is seen as incongruous, if not sacrilegious. It’s not quite like Tony Dungy agreeing to coach the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes, but close enough.
Boucher begs to differ with those taken aback by his seemingly meteoric rise to the big time. “It looks fast to people, but it doesn’t seem fast to me,” he noted. “To me, it’s been a long process. A lot of work. A lot of adversity.”
And while his rookie year at the Lightning helm will be a well scrutinized one, Boucher said “pressure” is a non-factor. “Now, singing at a concert. That would be pressure,” he reflected. “I’m being asked to do what I do best.”
His aggressive, innovative, up-tempo system has been well-touted, as is his handling of players. He’s been called “new age,” an “outside-the-box” thinker and the prototype for the “new generation coach.”
“I’m not coaching a ‘system,'” explained Boucher. “I’m coaching individuals. I adapt myself. I will prepare for the type of players we have.” And, yes, that means the “great building blocks” he’s inheriting named St. Louis, Stamkos and Lecavalier.
Actually, Boucher sounds like a hybrid of old school and new age, albeit one who liberally sprinkles in references to “values” and “culture” in any discussion of his coaching methodology. “We want relentless guys,” he stressed. “I’m relentless. I never quit. I’m extremely demanding. There are consequences.
“As to what we call the ‘Y Generation,’ to me that means ‘Why this and why that?'” said Boucher. “They need to know. They need to know what’s in it for them. If you care about the players, the players care about what you have to say.”
There were no players at the press conference. But the observations of GM Yzerman spoke volumes.
“He’s 38, not 21,” said Yzerman in addressing the issue of bringing in the league’s youngest coach.
“He’s a strong, charismatic leader with tremendous work ethic and passion for the game, and an extremely knowledgeable hockey person. He’s a very confident, very strong leader…He can create a culture of a winning environment, much like he’s done at every stop of his coaching career…He’ll have no trouble with these players earning their trust. But he’ll also have no trouble letting them know he’s in charge and this is the way we’ll be doing things.”
Boucher certainly sounded ready for the considerable, if not daunting, challenge.
“I want to learn quick,” he pointed out. “I want to dare. I want to do things that sometimes I might regret. But the thing is, I don’t want to regret not trying. I’m a student of the game, and the day I stop learning is the day I want to be buried.
“It never ends for me,” he added. “This quest to find an edge. I enjoy that.”
The Lightning, who finished out of the playoffs and a disappointing 12th in the Eastern Conference last season, obviously needed more than a change. More like a renaissance.
Arguably, they have their Guy.