Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin has explained the thinking behind his shock decision to fire head coach Bruce Boudreau.
Boudreau was given his marching orders on Friday morning, coming off the back of a shootout loss to the New York Rangers that saw the Wild give up two late goals.
While Guerin said that the Rangers game was one the Wild “should have won,” it wasn’t the single decisive factor in the decision to relieve Boudreau of his duties.
“You are never going to make everybody happy. People are always going to question you. I just felt this time, the timing was right to do it now,” he said at a Friday press conference.
“It’s not one win, one loss, one week, it’s a series of things,” he added, though he wouldn’t be drawn when asked if Boudreau would have kept their job if the Wild had won last night.
“I felt like the players needed a different voice right now,” he said.
Boudreau’s firing comes despite the Wild just being three points off of a wildcard spot, and Guerin said that the playoffs are still the aim despite the upheaval in the squad, with Boudreau’s firing coming just days after the trading of Jason Zucker.
But the GM said he expects the players remaining to be professional about the loss of their coach.
“If the players are hurt by this, maybe they’re not the players we should have here. It’s the business we’re in.”
“This is something I expect the players to shrug off, and at game time tomorrow they’ll be ready to go.
“Players have to be better, coming down the stretch of last night’s game … players have to be better.”
Boudreau’s firing has led to some suggestions that he is being punished for the underperformance of some of its players, particularly some veterans.
Guerin says that there’s no question that players will be held responsible for their performances.
“There has to be accountability and people are going to be held accountable, and the players are included in that,” he said.
He added: “We need the veteran players to lead the way, we need them to guide the players and do the right thing.
“If someone is unhappy with their ice time or their lack of production, that’s too bad.”
