The Anaheim Ducks were one win away from the Stanley Cup Final under Bruce Boudreau this year, but there's no guarantee that the head coach will be back next season.
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Following a 5-3 Game 7 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday, which marked the third straight season Anaheim lost a do-or-die game on Honda Center ice, general manager Bob Murray was non-committal about bringing Boudreau back next year as the evaluation process continues.
"With everything, I'm evaluating the whole hockey team, and that's not a yes or a no," Murray said about Boudreau via NHL.com. "I'm evaluating everything. I've got to talk to some players. I've got to evaluate everything, I would assume. I'm not thinking about anything right now. Again, I may sound slow to you guys [reporters], but it takes me a while to sit back and replay everything."
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He continued:"I do think the coaching staff took some strides this year. I will say I was fairly happy with the overall performance of my coaching staff this year."
Boudreau led the Ducks to a 51-24-7 record in the regular season and their 109 points tied the St. Louis Blues for the most in the Western Conference and ranked just four points behind the Presidents' Trophy-winning New York Rangers (113) for the most in the NHL.
The Ducks then swept away the Winnipeg Jets in Round 1 and took out the Calgary Flames in five games in the second round, leading Boudreau to the first conference final of his coaching career.
Boudreau, 60, was unable to reach his first Stanley Cup Final after a Game 7 loss, but said as far as he knew he'd be back next season.
"We haven't actually had our meeting yet," Boudreau said. "I'm sure that's coming tomorrow or the next day. You need some time to just cool off as far as both of us being happy about not winning. We had our team dinner last night, which was very casual, but I'm sure we'll chat about the year and everything else."
Murray lamented his team's failure to wrap up the series in Game 6 in Chicago, where it lost 5-2.
"That's why I wanted to get it done in [Game] 6, because Game 7 worried me," Murray said. "I'm not going to lie, especially the team we were playing and the type of players we were playing against. The scenario that you least wanted to happen, happened right away, and we did not react properly whatsoever. All structure, all everything, went right out the window. I wasn't impressed by it at all."
After five years at the helm with the Washington Capitals, Boudreau joined the Ducks in the 2011-12 season and since then, the team has made the playoffs in three of the four years.
The Ducks lost Game 7 to the Detroit Red Wings in Round 1 in the 2013 playoffs, fell to the Los Angeles Kings in the conference semifinals in seven games in 2014 and then dropped the decisive game to the Blackhawks this season.
Boudreau is 162-79-29 in four years with Anaheim and 363-167-69 in 599 career games as an NHL coach.
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