Dale Tallon made it official on Monday morning, naming San Jose Sharks assistant Bob Boughner the new head coach of the Florida Panthers.
Boughner is the 15th coach in the franchise's 23 seasons and fifth in past four seasons.
"I talked to 15 coaches and six more on the phone," Tallon said at an introductory news conference in the BB&T Center Monday afternoon. "In all the years I've been in the business, interviewing coaches, firing coaches, meeting coaches, he was the most impressive. His preparation, his passion knocked us out of the park.
"He came in prepared with (three) piles: one was analytics, one was structure and the other was philosophy. ... It was about positional play, structure, attitude, who should play with whom, entry levels, everything.
"The structure of our team is going to be simple and straight forward. It's going to be full of passion, energy and life," added Tallon, who had interviewed Boughner 10 years earlier for a job in the Chicago Blackhawks organization. "I think you're going to see a team that's going to perform at a peak level."
Boughner, (prounounced BOOG-NER), 46, a native of Windsor, Ontario, and 10-year NHL defenseman, said he has been preparing to land his dream job for years.
"I've been thinking about this for a long time," said Boughner about his first NHL head-coaching job. "I tried to stay patient, put my time in, work hard at it, which I've done. I feel this is the right people and right group to work with. Sometimes that doesn't happen. When these jobs come up you have to accept what's there. I feel like I got the best of both worlds.
"I've seen this game through many vantage points. I've been a player, an owner (of the OHL's Windsor Spitfires), a head coach (in the OHL), assistant (NHL). I know this league and know this game and am ready for this challenge."
An rugged NHL defenseman, nicknamed The Boogieman, for 10 seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche. Boughner coached the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League for eight seasons. He is still a part owner of the Spitfires, who he guided to Memorial Cup titles in 2009 and 2010. He earned two Coach of the Year awards in the OHL and Canadian Hockey League.
Boughner has helped develop 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.
This will be Boughner's first head coaching job in the NHL. He ran the defense for former Panthers coach Pete DeBoer for the past two seasons in San Jose, during which Sharks defenseman Brent Burns has flourished. He is the Norris Trophy front-runner after leading all blueliners with 29 goals and 76 points.
Boughner and the Sharks, who reached the Stanley Cup Final last season but were bounced in the first round this year, were ranked fifth in fewest goals allowed this season, compared to Florida's rank of 21st.
Tallon is back in his role as general manager after Tom Rowe was demoted from GM and interim coach to adviser on April 10, the day after a disappointing 81-point season. Rowe took over for Gerard Gallant, a Jack Adams Coach of the Year finalist in 2015-16, when he was surprisingly fired following a road loss to the Hurricanes on Nov. 27 when the injury-plagued Panthers began the season at 11-9-1.
Rowe, 60, was a long-time NHL assistant and minor league coach. Rowe's disciplinarian style wasn't effective in motivating the young core of Panthers and he compiled a 24-27-10 record.
Tallon said he wanted to "contemporary" coach to relate, mentor and teach his young budding stars. Tallon waited for the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final to end before making it official.
Tallon is a firm believer in toughness and Boughner certainly brings that to the table. Although just 6-foot, the Boogieman got into 111 fights in the NHL according to hockeyfights.com and he took on the toughest enforcers in the league such as former Panthers' George Parros and Darcy Hordichuk, as well as Chris Neil.
During the coaching search Tallon interviewed University of Denver coach Jim Montgomery twice, but the NCAA Division I championship coach decided to stay in Denver. Tallon also met with twice fired Montreal Canadiens coach Michel Therrien and Washington Capitals assistant Todd Reirden.
Boughner played for Stanley Cup winning coaches such as Predators coach Peter Laviolette in Carolina, Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville in Colorado and former Los Angeles Kings coach Darryl Sutter on Calgary.
He was also a teammate of Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr on the Penguins in 2000. He coached Panthers captain Derek MacKenzie when he was an assistant with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2010, as well as goalie James Reimer with the Sharks last season.
Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad is a close family friend of Boughner and his son from the days growing up in Windsor.
