I know his record speaks for iteself, but I get so tired of hearing this guy complain.  Its either the refs, the league, the players (both sides).  He complains like a baby after every single penalty called against his team.

Posted by gretzky_to_lemieux on 02/12/10 at 08:43 AM ET

Someone’s got to complain.  And Sidney Crosby plays for another team, so he can’t help us…

Posted by Thag from Yerevan on 02/12/10 at 08:56 AM ET

He absolutely complains about everything, whether its because they had to shovel snow, missed call, or he had to spend 18 yrs in the minors, i don’t get it…Everyone knows it now too, because there are iso-cams on him every game just waiting for him to blow up over a call on live TV….

Posted by Greg on 02/12/10 at 09:15 AM ET

Oh come on, guys, he was calling out his goaltender and team for a bad game.  Last I checked, that’s what a coach is supposed to do when he doesn’t see them putting up enough effort.  I’m sure the coaches of your guys’ teams do the same thing.

Posted by BuzzFledderjohn on 02/12/10 at 09:40 AM ET

Buzz - you’re right, this one he does seem to be only calling out Varlamov, and not making excuses.  I guess in 2 yrs he’s kind of developed the reputation, and that’s the first thing that came to my mind anyway.

Posted by Greg on 02/12/10 at 09:50 AM ET

The on ice officials, they are human. They make mistakes. But tell me again why the icing at the end of the game wasn’t called? I didn’t understand that one rules of hockey 101. But that didn’t lose us the game.

- Ted Leonsis

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 02/12/10 at 09:52 AM ET

Oh come on, guys, he was calling out his goaltender and team for a bad game.

First of all the reason his team has given up 16 goals in the past 3 games is not due to goaltending.  The reason, as stated many many times is because of their style of play which Bruce implements.  When you have OV cherry picking at center ice when the puck is deep in your zone, sometimes you get a breakaway (see penguins game) and in most cases you come out on the wrong end.  And it is not just OV, but nrearly every foward plays this way for the Caps.  Bruce constantly deflects.  The reason their winning streak was snapped was because of the linesman not callig iceing with 30 seconds left in the Montreal game, and the reason his team lost last night was because of his goalie.

Posted by gretzky_to_lemieux on 02/12/10 at 09:59 AM ET

Boudreau does have a talent for spouting off annoying comments.  I think he’s trying to defend his team—and on the surface I have no problem with a coach doing that—but the cumulative effect can come off as whining or self-centered, somehow.

Over the weekend, when some suggested the Penguins had a disadvantage due to the travel issues, he ranted about how his team had to shovel snow and didn’t have power and this and that.  Why not just leave it at the statement that all players are used to dealing with travel issues from going back to junior (as Pittsburgh did)?  No, he can’t leave it there; he has to whine about his guys having to shovel snow and how this is JUST as bad as anything the Penguins went through, in fact it’s even worse—so there!

Then, the other day when their winning steak ended, he can’t just say it was a great accomplishment—which it absolutely is—and leave it at that.  No, he has to opine about how much more meaningful and how much harder to achieve his team’s streak was than either Pittsburgh’s or the Islanders’ because of the salary cap or some such nonsense.  The Caps’ streak was really much more impressive, so there!

This kind of stuff gets really annoying over time.

And, no, I really don’t see Dan Bylsma so publicly dumping on a player returning from injury in his first game, especially when said player is playing behind a team whose team defensive concept is rather, shall we say, lax.  It’s not his style.  But hey, to each his own.  Sometimes players do need to be called out—maybe Varlamov is one here.

Posted by Shark on 02/12/10 at 10:27 AM ET

Goalies either break or rebound completely after criticism like that.  Self confidence is huge when in net, so it should be interesting how he responds.

Posted by Matt on 02/12/10 at 12:35 PM ET

I’m sure he’ll be backtracking today, just like when he said Ovechkin is reckless.

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 02/12/10 at 02:07 PM ET