Following on from one of the most strange seasons in the AHL’s history, there have been a plethora of coaches on the move.

One that was intimated a few weeks ago was that of Laval Rocket Head Coach, Joël Bouchard.

Despite having a great deal of success with Lava and developing players in the process, Bouchard wanted out of the Montreal organisation.

Bouchard was a free agent on July 1 and is reported to have been offered contracts to stay in Laval or take an assistant coach role with the Montreal Canadiens under Dominique Ducharme.

Perhaps it was the lack of a clear path to the NHL or a fundamental disagreement that led to Bouchard parting ways with the Canadian organisation and there were doubtless many interested parties in securing his services.

In three seasons with Laval, Bouchard had an overall record of 83-67-24, turning Montreal’s affiliate into an excellent place to develop their prospects.

In the previous seven years to Bouchard’s appointment, Montreal’s affiliate made the play-offs on just one occasion and only twice owned winning record just twice.
Finishing dead last in the entire league in 2017-18 was the end of Sylvan Lefebvre’s tenure.

The ‘Bouchard effect’ in Laval was always more than simply getting results and winning the Canadian Division in 2020-21.

He turned around the fortunes of Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Ryan Poehling, both of whom struggled in the NHL and had to find their game back in the American League.
Kotkaniemi quickly made his way back to the NHL and whilst Poehling did not, he was one of the AHL’s outstanding players and is sure to make a strong push at training camp for next season.

Young or old, highly drafted, seventh-rounder or a free agent, it doesn’t matter to Bouchard.

Seventh-round selection and a University of Notre Dame graduate, Jake Evans can attest to that.
The defenseman has graduated to the NHL and has cited the Quebec native as the reason why.

Three rookie forwards had outstanding seasons for Laval -Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Joël Teasdale and Jesse Ylönen.
Also rookie defenseman Tobie Paquette-Bisson, a free agent signing, impressed after spending the majority of his professional career in the ECHL.

The San Diego Gulls has been a successful franchise since its inception in 2015.

Consistently a winning team who have missed out on the playoffs just once.

They have made just one coaching change before this hire having promoted Dallas Eakins to Anaheim and Kevin Dineen taking over the role.

Dineen certainly hasn’t done anything wrong in the last two shortened and difficult campaigns but was passed over in favour of a younger and upcoming coach.

The emphasis in San Diego right now is to develop highly touted players from recent drafts.

In the last three drafts, Anaheim has selected twenty-two players.
Half of those were taken inside the top 85 and five are first-rounders.

In the upcoming 2021 NHL Entry-Draft, the Ducks have seven picks available including the third overall and two others inside the top sixty-six.

Is Joel Bouchard the perfect man for the job?
He’s certainly shown he’s well qualified to nature young talent through his career to date.

Just how ambitious is Joël Bouchard and how quickly does he want an NHL top job?

An interesting caveat in Anaheim is that both the contracts of Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins and general manager Bob Murray are up at the end of this season.

If the organisation were interested in a change after this year they could look in-house again.

If Bouchard impresses then he could be well-positioned to take advantage of the vacancy.