Boudreau, Wild using ‘good is not good enough’ as motto
Published 8:04 am Thursday, September 28, 2017
ST. PAUL — Bruce Boudreau brought his mastery of the regular season to Minnesota last season, and the Wild aced that test behind their new head coach.
Playing deep into the postseason and, of course, hoisting that Stanley Cup is still the elusive goal for all involved.
“Our motto this year is ‘good is not good enough,’ because we’re always good,” Boudreau said. “We want to strive to be better than good. We want to be great.”
The franchise-record 106 points the Wild compiled last season, good for second best in the Western Conference, ultimately fell in the “not good enough” category after a five-game loss in the first round of the playoffs to the St. Louis Blues. In 17 years of existence, the Wild have only won four out of 12 postseason series. They’ve reached the final four just once, in 2003.
Boudreau, who leads all active NHL coaches in winning percentage, is 5-9 in playoff series. He has reached the conference finals only once, in 2015 with the Anaheim Ducks. So there’s no hiding from this reality of the lack of spring success.
“We think we’ve got a team that’s built to win,” Boudreau said, adding: “If they’re as hungry and upset about the way things ended after having six really good months, and if we come out with that hunger, I think we’ll be really good.”