The Florida Panthers are working on a deal to make San Jose Sharks assistant Bob Boughner their next head coach, a source confirmed to the Sun Sentinel.
Panthers general manager Dale Tallon had said he wants a coach who will relate to Florida's young stable of 20-something budding stars. It appears he may have found that in Boughner, who played for the Panthers' minor league affiliates in the mid-90s.
The deal to hire the Panthers' 15th coach in franchise history is expected to be finalized on Monday. TSN first reported that the Panthers and Boughner were closing in on a deal Saturday morning.
Boughner, 46, a 12-year NHL defenseman, coached the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League for eight seasons, including two resulting in Memorial Cup titles in 2009 and 2010. He earned Coach of the Year honors twice.
Boughner, still the majority owner of the Spitfires, has successfully developed 20-goal scoring forwards such as New Jersey's Taylor Hall and Adam Henrique, as well as outstanding defensemen Cam Fowler of Anaheim and Nashville's double-digit goal scoring defenseman Ryan Ellis.
While Boughner has run the defense for former Panthers coach Pete DeBoer for the past two seasons in San Jose, defenseman Brent Burns has flourished. He is the Norris Trophy front-runner after leading all blueliners with 29 goals and 76 points.
The Sharks and Boughner, who reached the Stanley Cup Finals last season but were bounced in the first round of this year's playoffs, were ranked fifth in fewest goals allowed this season, compared to Florida's rank of 21st.
It had been believed that Tallon was waiting for the Stanley Cup Final to end so he could interview Nashville Predators assistant Phil Housley for the coaching position. But it appears a hire could be completed before then.
Both Housley, a Hall of Famer with 338 goals, and Boughner began their NHL careers with Buffalo and both have been linked to the Sabres' coaching vacancy.
Boughner played for Stanley Cup winning coaches such as Predators coach Peter Laviolette in Carolina, Chicago coach Joel Quenneville in Colorado and Darryl Sutter in Calgary.
He was also a teammate of Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr, who is an impending free agent, in Pittsburgh in 2000.
Since Tallon has taken over the decision-making role for the Panthers he has hired Kevin Dineen and Gerard Gallant, while Peter Horacek and Tom Rowe were both dismissed after their brief stints as interim coaches. Of the quartet, only Gallant had brief previous head-coaching experience in the NHL.
Tallon, back in his role as general manager, demoted Rowe from GM and interim coach to advisor following the Panthers' disappointing 81-point season this year. The previous season, Gallant had directed the team to 103 points and the Atlantic Division title but he was fired by owner Vinnie Viola on Nov. 27 when Florida was 11-9-1.
Boughner, who was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the second round in 1989, played 630 NHL games for the Sabres, Predators, Penguins, Flames, Hurricanes and Avalanche, and had 15 goals and 72 points in his career. Known as a physical player, he notched eight seasons of 100-plus penalty minutes. Before he reached the NHL in 1995, Boughner signed a minor league free-agent deal with the Panthers and played for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL and Carolina Monarches of the AHL, then Florida's affiliates in parts of the 1994 and '95 seasons.
Boughner was a finalist for the Avalanche head coaching job last summer after Patrick Roy resigned. Boughner was an assistant coach with Columbus for the 2010-11 season under Scott Arniel where he coached Panthers captain Derek MacKenzie. Panthers goalie James Reimer was with the Sharks and Boughner briefly in 2016.
Boughner told the San Jose Mercury News recently that he feels he's ready for an NHL head coaching job.
"This is my third full year on an NHL bench and looking back, at the time when I won a couple (Memorial) Cups, I said, 'I'm ready to go to the NHL.' Well, it's not as easy as you think," Boughner said. "There's a lot of learning and the league changes every year and team's identities. ... So, you've got to stay on top of it. You've got to know the league.
"I feel comfortable going into a position, if I was fortunate to be in that position ... to manage people. Managing NHLers is different than managing kids in the OHL. I know how teams are playing, their tendencies, their coaching. So that experience has helped me. I'm ready. I'm definitely ready and I want to get my own team."
