Boudreau to coach Canucks next season

Bruce Boudreau will remain coach of the Vancouver Canucks next season.

Boudreau was hired on Dec. 5 after Travis Green was fired following an 8-15-2 start.
"That's exactly what I'm looking forward to is getting the group back, and I thought we were building up something pretty good and to continue doing it," Boudreau said. "We just ran out of time I thought at the end of this year, and (I'm) really excited about seeing what we could do with a motivated and hungry group like we had at the end of last year. I'm excited about it, and it's something that I would have really regretted if I hadn't been able to see this thing through."
Although Vancouver (40-30-12) missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons, it went 32-15-10 under Boudreau, whose contract had included a team option for next season, as well as an option for the coach to walk away, according to Sportsnet.
"Let's understand that last year I signed a two-year deal with them and had these out clauses, but still the whole deal was the two-year deal, and we both are honoring the two-year deal, and I'm very happy with it," Boudreau said. "I'm comfortable with the direction of our team. I want the team to be successful, and if it isn't successful then I'm taking a lot of the blame here for this. I have no fear of going in with one year. I don't feel it's a lame duck. I feel like I've got the support of the management, and we're going to go in and we're going to put our best foot forward, and I'm not going to worry about anything else other than the team, and contracts will not come up at all during the course of the year."
Under Boudreau, the Canucks power play improved from 22nd in the NHL (17.4 percent) prior to the coaching change to second (26.7 percent), and the penalty kill went from last (64.6 percent) to 11th (80.5 percent). Their goals per game also improved from 27th (2.36) to 12th (3.28), and their goals against from 23rd (3.16 goals per game) to fifth (2.67).
"We are pleased to see Bruce's commitment to return to the Canucks next season," Allvin said. "He has done a great job since arriving in Vancouver and we are eager to see the team continue to perform under his leadership as they did during the second half of the season."
Rutherford, who was hired four days after Green and general manager Jim Benning were fired, served as GM until Allvin was hired on Jan. 26. Neither Rutherford nor Allvin were in place when Boudreau was hired by owner Francesco Aquilini, but Boudreau expressed his desire to return after the season ended.
"I woke up this morning to phone my agent and told him, 'Can you get a hold of Jim this morning and let him know what I'd like to do and what my decision is,' and go from there," Boudreau said. "Jim was very happy and I talked to Patrik, who was very happy, and so we're back where we started and trying to build the best team we can for the Canucks. I really believe the last 56 games we were a playoff team, and hopefully we can start off where we left off and make the dream come true for next year."
The 67-year-old is 599-317-125 in 1,041 regular-season games with the Canucks, Minnesota Wild, Anaheim Ducks and Washington Capitals, and 43-47 in 90 Stanley Cup Playoff games. His .635 points percentage is second to Scotty Bowman (.657) in NHL history among coaches with at least 1,000 games.
Boudreau previously said he was excited about Vancouver's young core, which includes center Elias Pettersson, who had 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his first 25 games under Green but 56 points (28 goals, 28 assists) in 55 games after Boudreau took over. The 23-year-old was also added to the penalty kill.
"It's one of the things I focused on my whole career, from the first day I coached to now, was getting a relationship with the players," Boudreau said. "I think if they believe you and trust you and they realize that you care about them, they're going to go through a wall for you. It's something that comes naturally, but at the same time, I know it's something that I want to happen. We had a relationship much akin to the one I had in Washington and with the Capitals players, a young (Alex) Ovechkin, a young (Nicklas) Backstrom, a young Mike Green and Brooks Laich, and I felt like my comfortability of talking to these guys was on the same level, and hopefully we can continue on that relationship, getting to know them and getting to push the right buttons because in the end, it's my job to push the right buttons, and I got 23 guys, and I got to find the right buttons to push on all 23 players."
NHL.com independent correspondent Kevin Woodley contributed to this report.