Bruce Boudreau to Make International Coaching Debut for Team Canada at Spengler Cup

Hockey Canada named Bruce Boudreau as head coach of the Canadian men's squad for the 2023 Spengler Cup.

Bruce Boudreau is expected to be behind the bench once again, but this time will be a first for him.

Hockey Canada announced its coaching staff for the 2023 Spengler Cup. Boudreau, 68, was named the coach for the annual invitational tournament in Davos, Switzerland. The assistant coaches are Larry Mitchell of Kloten in the Swiss National League, Jim Playfair of the WHL's Prince George Cougars and Kloten's senior advisor, Jeff Tomlinson.

Originating in 1923, the Spengler Cup is considered the oldest international ice hockey club tournament in the world, with Team Canada facing five other teams from across Europe for the 100th anniversary.

This is scheduled to be Boudreau's international coaching debut after more than 30 years since he first started coaching and 16 years since his NHL coaching career began. He was named an assistant for Team Canada in 2021 for the Channel One Cup and Spengler Cup, but he couldn't attend after the Vancouver Canucks hired him in early December 2021 to replace Travis Green behind the bench. The 2021 Spengler Cup was eventually cancelled due to COVID-19.

Boudreau last coached in the NHL with the Canucks and helped them turn around from an 8-15-2 start, posting a 32-15-10 record in 2021-22 and finishing five points short of the playoffs. But in 2022-23, the Canucks couldn't carry their momentum over to a new season, and the Canucks replaced Boudreau with Rick Tocchet in January after an 18-25-3 start.

The Toronto native has also coached the Washington Capitals from partway through the 2007-08 season – when he won the Jack Adams Award – to 2010-11, the Anaheim Ducks from partway through 2010-11 to 2015-2016 and the Minnesota Wild from 2016-17 to 2019-20. His 617 career regular-season wins rank 20th among all coaches in NHL history, and his 1,087 career games coached rank 21st.

Boudreau is also an AHL Hall of Famer for scoring 799 career regular-season points in the league as a player and for a 655-game AHL coaching career that included winning the Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears in 2005-06. He's currently working with the OHL's Niagara Ice Dogs as a senior advisor and owns the Hershey Cubs of the USPHL Premier Division.

The folks who gave Boudreau and the rest of the coaching staff the opportunity to add to their coaching resumes include co-GMs Brad Pascall and longtime NHLer Joe Thornton. Team Canada last won the Spengler Cup in 2019 – COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 tournaments, and Canada didn't make the final last year.

"We are excited to name Bruce, Larry (Mitchell), Jim (Playfair) and Jeff (Tomlinson) as the coaches who will lead Canada’s national men’s team as it looks to reclaim the Spengler Cup," Pascall said in a statement. "All four bring many years of experience coaching in the NHL, AHL and Europe, and we know this diversity will be beneficial to our team," Pascall said.

The 2023 Spengler Cup kicks off in Davos on Dec. 26, with Team Canada facing SHL club Frolunda at 2:15 p.m. ET.