A Tale of Two Teams

So it's fairly clear that Glen Hanlon had a crappy Thanksgiving and Bruce Boudreau had much to be thankful for. On Thanksgiving Day, George McPhee, the Washington Capitals GM relieved Hanlon of his coaching duties and named Boudreau as the interim coach. Boudreau comes from behind the bench of the Hershey Bears, where he steered the club to the Calder Cup last year and nearly won it back to back this year.

It was clear to me when ADR and I went to the Caps game on Wednesday night that change was surely coming. ADR had consulted his crystal ball (and the Caps schedule) and believed the coaching change would not come for another week or so. But someone important must have finally heard the "Fire Hanlon" calls echoing around the Verizon Center.

Boudreau brings an impressive record to the Caps bench. And from the Washington Post article announcing the change,

"Though Boudreau has been with the Capitals for only one practice, the contrast between his style and Hanlon's was obvious. The most noticeable difference was Boudreau's constant barking during drills. Known as a players' coach, Hanlon was more reserved.

"Boudreau also demanded that everyone race over to him when he blew his whistle. The last one to the huddle had to skate a lap.

"More importantly, he places a greater emphasis on generating offense, one of the Capitals' biggest problems. As of last night, they ranked 28th in the league in goals per game (2.24)."

Boudreau is currently 2-0 as the new Caps coach. Yesterday afternoon they beat back the inconsistent Philadelphia Flyers and tonight put on an impressive performance against the Carolina Hurricanes. It is only the second time this season they have back to back wins, after winning their first three games of the season.

I will again visit the Verizon Center on December 12, when my team of choice, the New York Rangers will come to the nation's capital. Let's see how that game goes. But for now, the Caps have figured something out.