The two former teammates were in touch during the season, but it was only after Bouchard's Blainville-Boisbriand Armada fell to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan that talks intensified and a deal was done. And, with plenty of experience at all levels of hockey and in all occupations - player, manager and coach - Bouchard is ready to instill a winning mentality in his players and help them maximize their potential.
"My work is to surround them, to give them all the tools to become the best hockey players they can be so Marc can call them up and give them a job, maybe trade some of them. They all have different realities and challenges," outlined Bouchard, who led the Armada to a franchise-best 50-11-7 record in 2017-18. "There isn't one guy who will be able to sit down in front of me and say - 'You don't understand my situation' - because I've been in his situation. I lived it all. I'll be able to use that to build a partnership with them."
The Rocket staff will look quite a bit different this year, with Larry Carriere moving from general manager to director of player personnel, and assistant coaches Donald Dufresne and Nick Carriere moving on. While Bouchard, too, will be in a vastly different situation than he's found himself in since joining the QMJHL coaching and management ranks in 2008-09, don't expect him to change his winning formula all that much.
"Coaching is coaching… but I have to keep being Joël Bouchard. The second I try to be a different kind of coach, I'll be in trouble. It's about being who you are, respecting the players, being fair to them," explained Bouchard, who enjoys teaching players far more than he did commenting on the game as a TV personality - or sometimes even playing the game itself. "I'm tough with my players, and I will continue to be tough with them, but I think the players buy into that. We all want the same thing: to get results. There will be an adjustment, but it will come naturally."