Now that he’s been hired, the real work begins all over again for Bruce Boudreau.
On Saturday, Boudreau agreed to terms to become the newest head coach of the Minnesota Wild, a move that quickly took one of the most sought after available bench bosses off the market. He goes from the Anaheim Ducks, a Stanley Cup contender when the post-season began only to have their playoffs end in disappointment, to a Wild team that also lost in the opening round.
“We want to play fast. We want to be physical. But I told (GM Chuck Fletcher) the style will depend on the type of team. … I will adjust to what the personnel is and we’ll find a way to make that work,” Boudreau told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
“In a perfect world, let’s score five goals every night. But when that doesn’t work, you better be able to defend.”
Boudreau taking the Wild’s coaching job wasn’t the only big news to come out of that franchise over the weekend.
Zach Parise, who didn’t play for the Wild in the playoffs due to a herniated disc in his back, will not undergo surgery. He was hopeful, at least in late-April, that he’d be ready for training camp.
“We decided not to do the surgery, and the doctors said that with how well I’ve been progressing — at the beginning they said that they would do it and after a while they said that the progress was going so well that they didn’t think I would need it anymore. That was a good sign,” Parise told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.