Eric Bouchard helped guide Italy to historic success, interviewed with multiple PWHL teams, yet never landed a coaching job. With eight head coaching vacancies filled this offseason, was the league’s most overlooked coaching candidate hiding in plain sight?
The news broke last week: Team Italy head coach Eric Bouchard has joined the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL as associate coach and assistant general manager. It’s a well-deserved promotion for someone who spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach in the league.
Which begs the question: how did the PWHL overlook Eric Bouchard when eight teams needed a head coach?
Yes, Bouchard’s résumé doesn’t include the same amount of head coaching experience as some other candidates. But every time he’s been given the opportunity, he’s delivered. On the men’s side, he won a Junior A championship. He also guided Italy’s women’s national team to unprecedented success, earning the program’s first two Olympic victories and leading it to the medal round for the first time in its history. And although he wasn’t behind the bench at the World Championship in April, his influence was still evident as Italy captured the bronze medal. its first-ever medal.
It’s not as though Bouchard never had conversations with PWHL teams.
I’ve learned that he interviewed for both head coaching and assistant coaching positions with several teams, with the most serious discussions taking place with PWHL Las Vegas and the Seattle Torrent. I’m also told Vancouver had him on its shortlist before Cara Gardner Morey ultimately decided to take the job herself.
Perhaps the most concerning part is what I’ve been told happened during the process. Several communications reportedly went unanswered. Emails received no acknowledgment. Even virtual meetings that had been agreed upon never materialized.
For a league that prides itself on being professional, that lack of professionalism is difficult to understand.
Why Was He Overlooked?
Going back to my original question, perhaps his age played a role.
At 35, Bouchard would have been the PWHL’s second-youngest head coach and roughly 10 years younger than the league average. The only head coach younger is Seattle’s Christine Bumstead, who is 30.
Maybe his relationship with defence player Kelly-Ann Nadeau also factored into the equation.
Nadeau has yet to decide if or where she’ll play next season. Did some teams hesitate because they wanted to avoid the possibility of Bouchard coaching his own partner? Yet, in the NHL, we’ve seen fathers coach their sons. In fact, we could very well see that this season with Manny and Caleb Malhotra.
It’s also possible that some head coaches viewed his résumé as a threat when hiring assistant coaches. Whatever the reason, I believe this was a significant oversight.
The Right Fit
In a league that has struggled to attract former NHL, AHL and CHL head coaches—Pascal Rhéaume being the lone exception—and has also failed to lure top NCAA women’s hockey head coaches, largely because PWHL salaries remain less competitive than those offered in the NCAA, it’s a difficult decision to explain. Unlike many of his NCAA counterparts, Bouchard would have received a substantial pay increase by making the jump to the PWHL.
And for those who believe four seasons as a CHL assistant coach isn’t enough, think again. His experience compares very favourably to that of many current head coaches in lower leagues.
He proved his dedication through the work he put into preparing Team Italy. He showed his ability to make in-game adjustments against elite opponents, as he did against the United States at the Olympic Games. He also demonstrated that he can build strong relationships with his players, something reflected in the many testimonials from members of the Italian women’s national team. He has also earned the trust of many of Quebec’s college and professional women players through his work as head coach of the Centre 21.02 program in Verdun.
Coaches with that combination of experience—in both the men’s and women’s game—are not easy to find.
No Call from Team Italy
Women’s hockey doesn’t appear to be in Bouchard’s immediate future.
On Friday, Stacey Colarossi, head coach of the U Sports’ Carleton Ravens and a former assistant coach with Team China at the 2022 Olympics, was named the new head coach of the Italian women’s national team.
From what I’ve been told, Bouchard has never been contacted by Danièle Sauvageau, who was general manager of Team Italy until just recently, or the Italian hockey federation, about returning behind the bench.
Did Team Italy simply assume he wouldn’t be available because of his new responsibilities?
That would be a surprising assumption. In junior hockey, it’s common for teams to allow coaches to leave during the season to participate in international tournaments such as the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge or World Junior Championships.
There is also considerable concern among Italian players that, now that the Milan Olympics are over, the program could slip back to where it was before. If that were to happen, the timing couldn’t be worse, with the 2027 IIHF Women’s World Championship Division I Group A set to be held in Italy in November 2027.
Under his brief but impactful tenure, several Italian players elevated their game and earned PWHL opportunities. Captain Nadia Mattivi signed a three-year contract with the Montreal Victoire, forward Kristin Della Rovere signed a one-year deal with PWHL San Jose, fellow forward Justine Reyes earned a training camp invitation from the team, and goaltender Gabriella Durante was selected by Seattle in the PWHL Draft.
Together, they “shocked the hockey world,” as Durante recently said during a Seattle Torrent Instagram Q&A.
Perhaps the PWHL missed the memo.
