Former Wild coach Bruce Boudreau returns to Minnesota with his Canucks in playoff contention

The Wild achieved its most productive season after bringing in coach Bruce Boudreau.

Now, the Canucks are experiencing a boost with Boudreau behind their bench, climbing into the Western Conference playoff race after a slow start culminated in his hiring.

"They've bought in, and they play hard," he said.

Boudreau returned to familiar territory Thursday with Vancouver, coaching against the Wild at Xcel Energy Center for the first time since the team fired him on Feb. 14, 2020, after 3½ seasons.

During that stint, the Wild went 158-110-35, with Boudreau's debut 2016-17 season yielding a franchise-record 106 points. That prowess in the regular season, however, never spilled over into a playoff series victory and after not advancing at all in 2019, Boudreau was eventually dismissed.

"The hockey was great, especially the first couple years," said Boudreau, who waved to the cheering crowd after receiving a shoutout on the video board during a break in the action Thursday night. "A little disappointing that the playoff success didn't follow."

After exiting the Wild, Boudreau was an analyst for the NHL Network, but the former Jack Adams Award winner as the NHL's coach of the year was hopeful he'd get another chance to lead a team.

That opportunity came last December while the Canucks were sputtering, sitting second-to-last in the conference. Since then, they've rebounded and are in contention for a wild-card berth.

Along the way, Boudreau coached his 1,000th NHL game, becoming just the 29th to do so, and he tied the NHL record for longest winning streak to begin a tenure with a new team (7-0).

"I'm a hockey nut, lifer," the 67-year-old said, "and nothing else will give me the adrenaline that this does."

What newcomer Jake Middleton picked up on when he joined the Wild after arriving in a Monday trade from San Jose is how close-knit the team is, a camaraderie he sensed from the "banter, the honest questions, talking about families and everything in between."

"It was pretty cool to see just how cohesive it was," he said.

Nic Deslauriers had the same reaction after his trade from Anaheim last week, with both players hearing from captain Jared Spurgeon and alternate captain Marcus Foligno after their acquisitions.

"Those guys called me right away. I don't even think it was on Twitter or Instagram," said Deslauriers, who already knew a handful of Wild players.

Deslauriers made an almost immediate impact during his first game, scoring the winning goal during his second shift and dishing out six hits in the 3-0 win over Vegas on Monday while also eliciting a cheer from the crowd when he pulled William Karlsson out of the crease area by his jersey.

"Nobody should be standing there," Deslauriers said.

Before his addition to the Wild, the 31-year-old winger tussled with the likes of the Wild's Matt Dumba and Middleton, but Deslauriers explained there's a separation between what happens on the ice and off it.

"We're happy outside the rink to have a chat, have dinner maybe," he said. "But when it's hockey time, it's different. Friendship kind of disappears there, and I think that's the luxury of being an athlete. We get to play hockey for fun, and after we can still shake hands."

Middleton's debut on defense bumped Dmitry Kulikov from the lineup, just the second game Kulikov hasn't played all season; the other he missed because of injury.

Fellow defenseman Jordie Benn and forwards Nick Bjugstad and Connor Dewar were the Wild's other scratches.

"There's a constant competition within," coach Dean Evason said. "They're competing with each other for the right to compete against the other team. We've talked about that from Day One of training camp, and it stays the same."