Boudreau says he was surprised Wild fired him now: report

Bruce Boudreau said he expected to be fired as coach of the Minnesota Wild at some point but admitted to being caught off guard when it happened on Friday.

"I didn't know if it would be at the beginning of the year, Christmastime, the middle of the year or the end of the year," Boudreau told the Athletic. "But, I thought we were playing really good and when you're into the second week of February, I just figured I was safe 'til the end."
Boudreau, who was replaced by assistant Dean Evanson, was 158-110-35 in four seasons as Wild coach. Minnesota qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in his first two seasons but never won a series.
The Wild were 7-3-1 in Boudreau's final 11 games, but his last game was a 4-3 shootout loss to the New York Rangers after leading 3-1 in the third period on Thursday.

The 65-year-old has a 567-302-115 record in 984 NHL games with the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks and Wild. He is 43-47 in the playoffs, winning five of 15 series.
"I'll tell you what, I'm pretty sharp when it comes to these things," he said. "I may not be sharp in a lot of things, but with firings, I usually know. This one I didn't see coming. In Washington, they asked us to redo the lease on our house and even though I had two years left on my contract, I told my wife**