Bruce Boudreau returning to Toronto could lift father's 'curse'

When Bruce Boudreau was sent down to the minors by the Leafs in 1983, his father said Toronto would never win a Stanley Cup again until Boudreau was back. After the 68-year-old was fired by the Vancouver Canucks, there have been some calls for Boudreau to join the Leafs as an assistant coach as the team seeks to end their Stanley Cup drought dating back to 1967.

Video Transcript

- Come home, Bruce. Come home--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: He ain't coming home. What if-- do you subscribe to the theory that this was all a 46-year revenge ploy by Jim Rutherford because Bruce Boudreau scored the-- his first ever NHL goal--

[LAUGHTER]

- I saw that. I saw that. And I-- yeah, I was like, yo, that's Bruce Boudreau scoring--

[LAUGHTER]

JULIAN MCKENZIE: It's like 56 years or whatever, however many years.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: 46 years, yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: 46, oh right. Sorry.

- But apparently, there's like-- I-- like, anyone-- like, anyone who's listening, like, correct me if I-- if I mess with the details. But apparently, when Boudreau was part of the Leafs, he got like traded or just wasn't on the team anymore. And I think it was Bruce Boudreau's father who said that the Leafs will not win anything until he comes back.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No way.

- I need to look it up. I remember that. I remember that definitively.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I think that's it. No way.

- Hold on, fill that in-- hold on, fill that in and let-- let me find it. Fill that and just let-- talk about random stuff, but I--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I also apologize if I got details of that Roger Nielsen story wrong. But it's still objectively a worse way to treat a head coach compared to, uh, what Bruce Boudreau went through. That-- no, that's not to take away from what Bruce Boudreau went through. But that was-- anyway, I just had to bring up that story.

But also, we have to discuss Rick Tocchet too and the fact that he is now officially the successor. Which is funny because we've discussed Rick Tocchet for weeks.

- I got it. I got it. In 1983, when the Leafs released Bruce Boudreau, his father Norman placed a curse on the team saying they'd never win another cup until he came back. In 1983, Bruce--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Oh, no way

- Bruce, let's do this, man. Let's do this. Come home.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No don't do this.

- Yes.

SAM CHANG: I'm tweeting that.

- Come home.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No, my god.

- Come home.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No, this is not-- no, this is not a real curse.

- Yes. What do you want? What do you mean it's not a real curse? Have you seen--

[LAUGHTER]

JULIAN MCKENZIE: It's not a real curse.

[LAUGHTER]

It's not a real curse at all. Don't do this.

- Yes, come home.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I get-- I get you all are starving for a playoff series with-- don't do this.

- That's an under-- starving, that's an understatement. I'm Squidward in the box, on the episode of "SpongeBob," saying, please, play a second round, anything, anything--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Change.

- --anything, anything.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Change.

- Like, literally, man, I want-- and I want things to be different.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: You all want Bruce Boudreau that bad?

- Yes. Yes.

[LAUGHTER]

- Give him anything.

SAM CHANG: The other suggestion I saw that I love was, someone was like, reboot "Coach's Corner" with Bruce Boudreau and Bieksa and call it "Bruce and Juice."

[LAUGHTER]

- Yo, that would be funny.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I'd watch that show.

- I'd watch that.

SAM CHANG: I would watch that.

- I'd watch it. That'd be hilarious.