Boudreau shows willingness to change status quo in introductory press conference

"It's a complete honor for me to be able to come here and coach in the State of Hockey," said Boudreau at the top of the press conference. In summing up his decision to come here he continued, "The Central Division is the toughest division. It's a great challenge. ... Everything pointed in this direction." He also worked to sell the gathered crowd on his resume, going over his vast coaching experience in the AHL prior to jumping to the NHL. General Manager Chuck Fletcher joked that Boudreau had probably coached in more locations than Fletcher had ever traveled to. To Boudreau, that ultimately means, "there's not a situation that can come up that I haven't already faced. I've gone through the trials and tribulations." Which should be music to the ears of the local fanbase, which has been clamoring for a veteran coach's experience to propel the team beyond it's current high-benchmark of the second round of the playoffs.

When reading between the lines of how Boudreau answered this question, it was easy to see that Boudreau had already considered both of Souhan's points with regards to Suter. He had an idea of the max ice time he envisions for his players, and is slyly aware of how Suter has been deployed on special teams. He met this challenge by showing he intends to meet these issues head on, while also working to get the players to buy in to the value of his coaching style. "My job is to find the Achilles heel of every player and to push that button to make them play to the best of their ability," said Boudreau.