Bruce Boudreau Emotional About NHL Coaching Future As Canucks Rumors Intensify

Former Washington Capitals coach and current Vancouver Canucks bench boss Bruce Boudreau opened his press conference on Friday in high spirits, as he made a joke regarding his absence from the team's morning skate ahead of their game against the Colorado Avalanche that led to panic on social media — and even from Boudreau's wife — that he was no longer the Canucks coach.

"Fooled you, eh?" he joked, via The Athletic's Thomas Drance.

Boudreau's second season with the Canucks hasn't gone according to plan. Vancouver is second-to-last in the Pacific with an 18-23-3 showing, and the team has won just two of its last 10 outings. It has led to headlines and speculation that he will be dismissed sooner rather than later as the Canucks navigate a number of problems both on and off the ice.

The longtime NHL coach said that he's not in the dark about the rumors and was a bit emotional while explaining that he's doing his best to ignore the outside chatter and focus on what he can do for his team.

"I'd be a fool to stay that I don't know what's going on," he said in Friday's presser. "Like I said before, you come to work and you realize how great the game is…

“It’s tough not to feel it but you just look it you love it you wanna go do it," he added. "That’s the way I shut it out and it’s basically just realizing how much you care about the game and players."

When asked about getting emotional and what it means to be an NHL coach, he ended his press conference with a "we'll talk later" and left quickly.

Boudreau has coached 16 years in the NHL and has a 617-340-128 record (.628 points percentage) over 1,085 games. His Canucks face the Avalanche, who his former Capitals face on Tuesday, at 10 p.m. ET in Vancouver.