Boudreau trying to settle into new job

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Bruce Boudreau's remarkable journey over the past 48 hours came to a peaceful interlude after he fulfilled all his media obligations Thursday.

"Last night, when I left here at 6 o'clock, I went to bed," Boudreau said Friday after his first game-day skate as coach of the Anaheim Ducks. "It's been a long two days."

Boudreau didn't have much time to study his new team since he was hired as Anaheim coach late Wednesday. He will make his Ducks coaching debut Friday against Philadelphia in a new era for the club and Boudreau.

Asked how much of a crash course he's had to do on his new team, Boudreau said, "As crash a course as you can get.

"It's still a whirlwind. I'll be glad when it gets back to a little bit of normalcy -- for the players, too -- to get into that routine of what they'll be used to. It's probably a little bit a change from what they're used to. Whether that's good or bad, we'll see."

Boudreau said he has conducted three 1-on-1 meetings with players to get to know them better and begin that relationship.

"I think it's important to know what goes on in their life," Boudreau said. "If they've got two sick kids at home and they look really tired, it's not that they're out all night, it's maybe they're up all night because the kids are up all night. Little things like that help go a long way."

The Ducks appear to be in full-honeymoon mode with Boudreau. There was laughter and smiles in the locker room and a sense of renewed energy.

"He's very positive," Teemu Selanne said. "You can see he's really excited about the situation, and that's great … overall everything has been really good."

Tonight's game will be just six days after he coached his last game with Washington, the shortest turnaround in NHL history, according to the lias Sports Bureau. Boudreau acknowledged it's unusual.

"I went to the visitors' bench first," he said. "I'm not used to this. I'm sure it will happen in a hurry and I'll get used to it. But it doesn't happen very often."