Guy Boucher: The Impact of Rest as a Coaching Strategy in the NHL

2023-07-22 23:59:50

After some rumors sending him around the world, Guy Boucher finally found a job in the NHL, he who is now assistant coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He has coached twice in his NHL career, with the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2010 to 2012, and in Ottawa with the Senators from 2016 to 2019.

In his first season at each of those two clubs, he saw his team eliminated in the conference finals, while in the second full year, he did not make the playoffs.

In the third year of each reign, that’s when he got fired.

He used a very special tactic, that of rest, and that is what would have led to his dismissal.

Guy Boucher was coaching with a very unique strategy: rest is a weapon.

That would have explained why the Senators were so surprising in the playoffs.

He only gave the bare minimum of training, which ensured that the players were in top form to surprise their opponents.

It seems to have worked well for the 2017 playoffs, but the following season, Boucher would have taken his slogan a little too far.

According The Athleticduring the 2017-2018 season, Guy Boucher’s troupe only participated in 49 training sessions over the season, or less than two training sessions per week.

It really doesn’t make any sense. I want to believe that rest is important and that you shouldn’t burn your players, but less than 50 training sessions in 185 days is borderline absurd.

The results did not arrive and the general manager Pierre Dorion was no longer able to hear regarding the famous ” rest is a weapon ».

“If I hear one more time that rest is a weapon, I’m going to go crazy. – Pierre Dorion

March 1, 2019 marked the end of his time at the helm of the Ottawa Senators.

I hope for him that he has learned from his mistakes and that he will not impose a rest on Sheldon Keefe’s troupe. It might cost him his job… once more.

A lot of

– Samuel Piette would be ill and will not be in uniform tonight.

– That’s nice to look at.

– Ivan Demidov is projected as one of the top three prospects for the 2024 draft, along with Cole Eiserman and Macklin Celebrini.

– Interesting.


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