Guy Boucher was fired as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, just a couple of years removed from guiding them to game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals,
"Guy has poured his heart and soul into the Lightning organization for these past three years and we appreciate all the work he has done," general manager Steve Yzerman said in a statement. "But ultimately I am not satisfied with the direction we are heading and I believe making a change today is in the best interest of our franchise," according to Huffington Post.
Under Boucher's leadership, the Lightning amassed a 13-17-1 record and will likely miss the postseason for the second-straight season.
Assistants Martin Raymond and Dan Lacroix are to share the coaching duties until Yzerman can find a suitable replacement and the rumor is that t that former Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff could be up for the job.
Besides Ruff's impressive-coaching record: 16 years as head coach of the Sabres, appearing in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1998 and the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999, not to mention him winning the Jack Adams Award, as Coach Of The Year, in 2006, he is closely connected to Yzerman, serving as assistant coach for the 2010 Canadian Olympic team, while Yzerman was executive director. In addition, in his farewell news conference on February 22, Ruff made it clear that he wants to return to coaching.
The Inquisitr states that "Lindy Ruff would make sense to follow up the fired Tampa Bay coach. The former Buffalo coach would be a contrast to Boucher, who at 38 was the youngest head coach in the league and came in to the job with only one year of professional coaching experience and no prior work in the NHL."
If Ruff does get the job, it will be interesting to see if his "hard-working, grinding style of defense" will work with a team that was in an offensive skating-and-shooting system under Boucher.
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