Tampa Bay fires coach Boucher; Ruff has ties to Lightning's Yzerman

[DetDannyWilliams]

MONTREAL -- The Tampa Bay Lightning fired coach Guy Boucher this morning, possibly giving Lindy Ruff his first opportunity to accept or turn down a coaching job since being let go in Buffalo.
http://blogs.buffalonews.com/sabres/2013/03/tampa-bay-fires-coach-boucher-ruff-has-ties-to-lightnings-yzerman.html

[Skooby]

This gives Buffalo a slightly better chance to win on Tuesday, the only benefit I see right now.

[DetDannyWilliams]

Tampa has a new coach but it's not Lindy...

The Tampa Bay Lightning have hired Jon Cooper as the team's new head coach. Cooper, 45, was the head coach of Tampa Bay's AHL affiliate in Syracuse. He replaces Guy Boucher, who was fired on Sunday after nearly three seasons with the team (http://aol.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2013-03-24/tampa-bay-lightning-fire-coach-guy-boucher-martin-raymond-dan-lacroix).
Cooper will make his NHL coaching debut on Friday against the New Jersey Devils. He will be introduced at a press conference on Wednesday, according to NHL.com (http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=662106&navid=nhl:topheads).

"There is no other team in hockey that I would rather be coaching than the Tampa Bay Lightning," Cooper told the team's website (http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=662090&navid=DL%7CTBL%7Chome). "It's quite a tribute to Steve Yzerman and Jeff Vinik and the organization they are building that are proud to promote from within. I look forward to getting to know the players and getting to work right away."

Last offseason, Cooper was linked to the Washington Capitals head coaching vacancy (an opening that eventually went to Adam Oates) following a season in which he guided the Norfolk Admirals (which used to be Tampa Bay's AHL affiliate) to the Calder Cup championship.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2013-03-25/jon-cooper-tampa-bay-lightning-head-coach-guy-boucher-fired-steven-stamkos

[SkateZilla]

BTW, COOPER was the Coach that had the AHL record setting 28-Game Winning streak, and 1 Loss Playoff run to the Calder Cup last year.

And half of the TB Team is the same players, Conacher, Gudas, etc.