Bruce Boudreau, the player

[Eye of Ra]

Always liked him as a coach. Saw that he was just named as Canucks new head coach. I clicked on his eliteprospect profile and his playing-career seems rather intresting. Lots of points in AHL and IHL and had quite many PIM.

Why was he never a full-time NHLer? What was his playing-style? Was he really just 178 cm and 80 kg? I would have gusssed 183 cm and 110 kg.

Bruce Boudreau at eliteprospects.com

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

I'd wager it was the size

Edit - a quick google/reddit search seemed to suggest he was a "top six or bust" situation in a league with 2/3s the teams. They don't want small skilled guy as 3rd/4th liner in that era. His pts/game in the NHL is not that much worse than a player like Gagner.

 

[crobro]

I’ve always thought Paul Gardner wasn’t given enough of a chance as well

 

[brentashton]

#7 for Hyannisport in your program, #1 in your heart Canuck Fans

 

[GMR]

Obviously if he played 10 to 15 years later, he'd be allowed more opportunities like Audette or Ronning. Even in the 1990's, smaller players had to fight much harder than today's era.

BTW, I like hockeydb still listing him at 5'10. Like we don't know by now he was never close to that.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Obviously if he played 10 to 15 years later, he'd be allowed more opportunities like Audette or Ronning. Even in the 1990's, smaller players had to fight much harder than today's era.

BTW, I like hockeydb still listing him at 5'10. Like we don't know by now he was never close to that.

was it really that much harder for a tiny guy in the 70s to make it than in the 90s?

from where i sit, andre boudrias and cliff ronning both clawed their way into the league the same way, by being absolute scoring dynamos and outplaying their size disadvantage.

boudreau i’m guessing wasn’t in their calibre of player. but one thing that i do wonder is why didn’t he go to the WHA? he was a first round pick and maybe he could have found the backdoor into the league in 1979, à la fellow small guys mike rogers and réal cloutier and robbie ftorek.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I know it’s not the proper topic, but I loved Bruce as a coach, especially with the Ducks.

I get that the ‘game 7’ thing is a dark cloud that hovers over him, but I find that blown out of proportion

 

[SkeeterPumpkinEater]

I honestly had no idea he used to play! He looks like the type of fellow that's just kinda born 58 years old ya know?

 

[Staniowski]

When I think of AHL players, the very first person I think of is Bruce Boudreau. That's certainly partly a reflection of my age, and when I was paying the most attention to the AHL....but the guy did put up a lot of points in the minors.

I remember when he played for the Leafs, and I saw him play in the AHL, but I can't describe his game in great detail....I didn't see him play very much.

He was small and I don't think he was a great skater (although I don't remember well enough to describe his skating).

Mostly I just remember his name near the top of the AHL (or IHL) scoring leaders.

 

[Johnny Engine]

was it really that much harder for a tiny guy in the 70s to make it than in the 90s?

If you had to make me guess, I'd say it was far easier for a 5'9" guy to play in the 70s, every time. That's based on the my impression of the WHA disapora who all scored 100 points in the early 80s and then were out of the league almost immediately, on the Lindros arms race, and the general upward trend of average male height after we stopped eating cigarettes and licking lead paint off walls.

Looking it up:
During the 77-82 6 year stretch where Boudreau played most of his NHL career, 335 players got into at least 200 games. 20 of them were listed at 5'9", and 17 of them were listed shorter than that.

Taking the first full 6 years of Audette's career, 92-97, and you've got 452 guys getting into 200 games, 8 of them are Boudreau's size, and 6 are shorter.

There are probably other ways I could look at it (I chose 200 games as a figure Boudreau missed by a bit, but was within his reach if he could have stayed out of the AHL even one of those years), but I think it's pretty clear that 70s teams were giving more jobs to short guys.

 

[Stephen]

I keep thinking of him as the 70s-80s version of Kyle Wellwood if that makes sense.

 

[57special]

Always liked him as a coach. Saw that he was just named as Canucks new head coach. I clicked on his eliteprospect profile and his playing-career seems rather intresting. Lots of points in AHL and IHL and had quite many PIM.

Why was he never a full-time NHLer? What was his playing-style? Was he really just 178 cm and 80 kg? I would have gusssed 183 cm and 110 kg.

Bruce Boudreau at eliteprospects.com

Still remember him as a minor league legend back in the days when they had not only the AHL, but the Central Hockey League and International Hockey League. He was the classic AAAA player. Great Minor league scorer that wasn't big enough, tough enough, or defensively inclined enough to be a NHL'er. The game was very physical back then, so if you weren't on the top two lines they wanted one of those qualities above. He would get called up by the Leafs, get in a few games, then go back down.

I was telling anyone who would listen that he'd a be a great hire after he was let go in MN. Took WAY too long for teams to figure it out. Because of his meme -like appearance and comical public comments, some think that he is nothing but a tired old bon vivant. What they don't realize is the he is a hockey nut, and a very smart hockey coach.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

ok this has nothing to do with boudreau the player—though my question upthread about why a small skill guy like that toiled away in the minors in the 70s instead of going to the WHA remains unanswered.

but damn, one of the worst built canucks teams i’ve ever seen, albeit with one hell of a goalie, and bruce has them 20-8-4 since he took over.

they were 8-15-2 previously.

7-0 and 8-0-1 start to his tenure here, then after a 5-6-3 stretch where the team fell back to earth and played to their ability, with a not insignificant bout of omicron (but every other team had some of that too), he’s 7-2-0 in the last nine.

so my question here is for ppl who followed his caps and ducks teams. was he a goalie controversy kind of guy? he had varly, neuvirth, and holtby all coming up at the same time in washington, then transitioned from hiller to andersen and gibson, with iirc jon bernier in the mix for a bit.

bruce has started jaro halak three times in the last month. he got pulled all three games, 13 goals against, .649 SV%, fewer than 80 minutes combined. yes demko needs a break, but spencer martin started three games in that sub-.500 stretch, when demko and halak were both in covid protocol. he heroically went 1-0-2 with a 1.59 GAA and .958 SV%. put it another way, we are 8-0 in the last eight games halak didn’t start, and 12-1-3 in the last sixteen that either demko or martin started (the other loss was our poor fourth stringer mikey dipietro). so wtf bruce?

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

I still remember him best from the two hockey cards I had of him (probably still have in my giant box of cards I haven't looked at in years):

For some reason I still remember that I traded a double of Mike Kaszycki to get the 78-79 Boudreau card. I also recall that in his rookie season 77-78 after he got called up, he got a goal in a tie game against the Canucks, centring a line of Pat Boutette & Jerry Butler. Years later he was back at the Pacific Coliseum playing for the Hawks and put one past Richard Brodeur.

He always seemed to have offensive skill but I guess didn't have the size, timing or skating ability to stick in the NHL.

 

[Michael Farkas]

You can see him in here a bit...

He wears #11 this season. There's a clip of him around 1:34:00 and 1:58:00 and 2:01:00. Not very explosive, agile, or quick. Missed an easy pass in the NZ was upset by it. Didn't look he had the skill and explosiveness combo to be a good NHLer. It's interesting to me that he gave up on the WHA. But I guess if your hometown team calls you, what are you gonna do...

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

You can see him in here a bit...

oh wow, i never realized the boudreau / rutherford connection until just now

 

[Terry Yake]

bruce was an AHL legend. he put up some big numbers in the IHL as well in the early 90s

 

[wetcoast]

You can see him in here a bit...

He wears #11 this season. There's a clip of him around 1:34:00 and 1:58:00 and 2:01:00. Not very explosive, agile, or quick. Missed an easy pass in the NZ was upset by it. Didn't look he had the skill and explosiveness combo to be a good NHLer. It's interesting to me that he gave up on the WHA. But I guess if your hometown team calls you, what are you gonna do...

Pretty much this and man that was a brutal pass.