Meet Bob Boughner, the new coach ofthe Florida Panthers. Boughner was officially named the team's 15th head coach on Monday. But, who is he?
He is a former defenseman who spent 10 seasons with numerous National Hockey League teams. He played for three years in Buffalo, a couple years in Nashville, a year in Pittsburgh, a couple more in Calgary and did a short stint in Carolina before finishing his career in Colorado.
He actually did sign with the Panthers back in 1994, but only played for a couple years in the minor leagues for Florida's affiliates in Cincinnati and Carolina.
And that's not the only Panthers link. Boughner spent the last two seasons with the San Jose Sharks as an assistant coach, working under former Panthers coach Peter DeBoer.
What else has he done? Well, actually, he was an owner and CEO of a team as well as its coach. Boughner was part of a group that purchased the Windsor Spitfires, a junior hockey league team in the Ontario Hockey League. During that time he was coach of the year two times.
He even coached the Canadian under-18 at the Memorial of Ivan Hlinka Tournament and won the gold medal.
The Florida Panthers finished last season missing the playoffs. That came off a season where they won the Atlantic Division but lost in the first round of the playoffs. It remains to be seen if Boughner can lead the team back to winning and the playoffs.
