How much time will Bruce Boudreau get from Canucks management now?

Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports

It is some sad state of affairs that we are once again on a coaching watch in October.

Less than one year after firing Travis Green following an 8-15-2 start, Bruce Boudreau’s seat is warm with his 0-5-2 start.

That said, for many reasons, it’s different this year.

For one, the Canucks are already paying Green not to coach, so moving on Boudreau means compensating two coaches not to coach. That’s the easy conclusion with an ownership group that has absorbed lots of sunken cost already, and surely doesn’t relish more.

Alas, the Canucks could just promote assistant Mike Yeo to avoid three head-coaching salaries, and it is true that there are two in-house options to replace Boudreau should they make a move: Yeo and Abbotsford head coach Jeremy Colliton, a former NHL head coach in Chicago.

But moving on Boudreau means embarrassing the owner, and that’s why I think he might have to wear this season until it gets much worse.

As you remember, chairman Francesco Aquilini hired Boudreau before hiring president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford last December. In other words, ass backwards.

Rutherford this week distanced himself from the Boudreau hiring saying he wasn’t aware Bruce had an option for this season until he got on the job.

One story that flew under the radar from last night’s After Hours: Before Rutherford joined the #Canucks, he was under the impression that Bruce Boudreau’s contract only went through the rest of 2021-22.

He didn’t find out about the second-year option until after taking the job. pic.twitter.com/PdUCl8MMe6

— Lachlan Irvine (@LachInTheCrease) October 23, 2022

That’s a head-shaker for Canucks fans. If true, it doesn’t speak well of Rutherford’s due diligence, and it further exposes the process errors in executing last year’s house cleaning.

The other reason I expect Boudreau to hang on is because management probably doesn’t want to expose its hand-selected coach to the worst of this market and this situation. Why make the new guy go through the misery of playing out the string over months, when you can give him a fresh start next September?

Speaking of next year — and it is criminal that we are speaking of next year on October 25 — Barry Trotz is going to be available and so will others from the NHL coaching carousel.

Not sure if New Jersey assistant Andrew Brunette has an out to jump to a head coaching job in-season, but the Canucks looked at him for an assistant’s role this year, I suspect he’d be of interest come the summer. Ditto Rick Tocchet.

Rutherford is known as a patient man, and if there is a way back in the playoff chase this season, it’s just as likely (if not more) to happen with Boudreau than an alternative. Boudreau took a 1-7-2 Anaheim team to the postseason, and had winning streaks of six and seven games with the Canucks last year. They’re capable of going streaking and playing .650 hockey under Bruce.

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Besides, firing the coach means turning over two bench bosses in less than one year — a horrible look for the franchise. It would be the second instance of that this decade after the transition from Alain Vigneault to John Tortorella to Willie Desjardins all in a span of 13 months.

So, until this season or coach get untenable, I suspect Boudreau will get his long-awaited 600th win and be scapegoated closer to April than December.