Boudreau rejects Sens for deal with Minnesota

OTTAWA — The Senators can scratch one of the top candidates for their vacant coaching job off their list after Bruce Boudreau decided Saturday to join the Minnesota Wild.

While the former Anaheim Ducks coach sounded like a man who wanted to go back to Canada when he spoke to Postmedia News about being closer to his family Thursday if he signed with the Senators, the 61-year-old decided against a deal with Ottawa on Saturday night and agreed to terms with the Wild.

Boudreau’s asking price was four years and $12 million and reports indicated he got $2.75 million per year from the Wild. It’s believed the Senators were offered up a threeyear deal at similar money per season during lengthy discussions with his camp Saturday afternoon.

The belief is the Senators didn’t want to go to that term and, even with Boudreau now off the table, the organization feels it still has a strong list of candidates to choose from as its next head coach.

Only 24 hours after the Senators wrapped up their talks with Boudreau in Ottawa, he headed back to his Anaheim home Saturday afternoon. But the Wild made a hard push and tabled a long-term offer to Boudreau Friday night.

This isn’t a setback for the Senators because the interview process to replace the fired Dave Cameron is believed to be complete and the next step is for GM Pierre Dorion to make his shortlist before one or two of the final candidates meets with owner Eugene Melnyk to get the final stamp of approval.

While the belief was the Senators would have their shortlist in place by Friday, it isn’t clear whether that was the case or not because Boudreau didn’t wrap up his interview until the afternoon and it’s unknown whether or not Dorion spoke with former Calgary Flames coach Bob Hartley, who was fired Monday.

Melnyk indicated last week the Senators would have a coach in place within the next two weeks and that timeline would work if negotiations go well with the top candidate.

There is no question, though, that the Senators have gone far and wide to conduct this search and Dorion exhausted every avenue to make sure whoever is the club’s next coach is going to be the right man for the job. But whatever decision is made from the list of as many as 10 candidates, it won’t be easy.