New Red Wings assistant coach Bob Boughner is a native of Windsor, Ontario and was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings, so his career is coming full circle in joining Derek Lalonde’s staff as an assistant coach. Here’s what Boughner had to say about taking his new job with the Windsor Star’s Jim Parker:
“Right in my own backyard is like a dream come true,” the 51-year-old Boughner said Friday of returning to the Red Wings.
Boughner was a member of one of Detroit’s most famous draft classes that included third-round pick Nicklas Lidstrom, fourth-round pick Sergei Fedorov, sixth-round pick Dallas Drake and 11th-round pick Vladimir Konstantinov. That draft class went on to play nearly 6,000 combined NHL games. A rugged defenceman, Boughner logged 630 games over parts of 10 seasons in the NHL with Buffalo, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Calgary, Carolina and Colorado, but still recalls hearing his name called by the Red Wings in 1989.
“It was at the old rink in Minnesota (the Met Center in Bloomington) and my parents were there,” Toughener said. “Jimmy D. (Devellano), Nick Polano and Jacques Demers. I still have the jersey (after being drafted). I have it in storage now, but it’s framed and I used to have it on my wall.”
Boughner recalls talking to former Red Wings captain and current general manager Steve Yzerman back in those early days at training camp in Flint. The two reconnected less than a week ago after Boughner was let go as head coach of the San Jose Sharks after parts of three seasons and the two reminisced about those days.
“It was funny when we started talking,” Boughner said. “I got fired five-six days ago and my phone started ringing a little with teams trying to fill out staffs.”
This is the first NHL head coaching job for Lalonde, who was looking for someone with NHL experience to be his associate coach.
“I knew from our first conversation that we had a lot in common with the way we saw the game,” Boughner said of Lalonde. “It just seemed like a good fit.”
