A taste of the Montreal-style passion arrived for the home opener Oct. 12, a 5-2 win against Binghamton (New Jersey Devils) before a loud crowd that was televised across Canada on RDS.
"If you want to play in the NHL, it's not going to get any easier from now," Bouchard said. "[In the AHL], you're getting mileage. This is as close to the NHL as it will [get] for them in a building [this] nice, a big crowd like that, an intensity, and quite a high level of hockey."
That intensity continued into the next work week.
A Monday after a busy weekend is typically a time to ease back into work in the AHL. That was not the case in Laval, where Bouchard's booming voice echoed throughout Place Bell amid a grueling practice, heavy on skating drills.
"I don't know how many teams around the league are doing [this] on a Monday," said forward Kenny Agostino, a major offseason free agent signing. "It's the way he is as a coach, and I think we're all really responding well to it, especially for a lot of the young guys."
"I think most people would say that he is tough but fair. He fires us all up."
Bouchard has gotten his veterans to buy in early.
Forward Alexandre Grenier compared Bouchard to Vancouver Canucks coach Travis Green. Grenier played four AHL seasons for Green in Utica as a Canucks prospect.
Forward Hunter Shinkaruk also played for Green in the AHL and made the same unsolicited comparison.
"[Bouchard and Green are] hard on you, but they played the game and know what it takes," Shinkaruk said. "He is black and white. You know when you played well, and you know when you didn't. That's what I think that players like. They want to know where they stand."
There is a method to the tough love from Bouchard, who often lived life on the NHL-AHL bubble and understands the challenges of that spot on the depth chart.
"There is no university of hockey," he said. "There is no place where you can go sit in a chair and say, 'I'm learning hockey.'
"You have to live it. The hard times and the good times. The pressure times, you need to live a few Game 7 [situations] to know how to manage them, and you need to live those higher expectations that you have about yourself and that the organization will have."
As mentioned, there are new coaches aside from Bouchard scattered across the AHL.
Greg Cronin took over Colorado (Colorado Avalanche) after leaving the New York Islanders. Jay Woodcroft joined Bakersfield (Edmonton Oilers), where former NHL defenseman Dave Manson was named associate coach.
Ben Simon went from assistant to coach in Grand Rapids (Detroit Red Wings) and Cail MacLean did the same in Stockton (Calgary Flames). Spencer Carbery departed Providence (Boston Bruins) to take over Hershey (Washington Capitals) and Tim Army headed west from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Pittsburgh Penguins) to Iowa (Minnesota Wild). Karl Taylor moved within the Central Division from Calder Cup finalist Texas (Dallas Stars) to lead Milwaukee (Nashville Predators).
The Ontario Hockey League also provided two coaches. Drew Bannister parlayed his CHL coach of the year honor into a spot with San Antonio (St. Louis Blues), and Jay Varady landed with Tucson (Arizona Coyotes).
Mark Dennehy left Merrimack University for a job with Binghamton. Troy Mann, a mainstay in Hershey, went to Belleville (Ottawa Senators).
