Ex-NHLer makes his opinion clear on whether Bruce Boudreau could help address Maple Leafs' power-play woes

Bruce Boudreau has always admired the Toronto Maple Leafs. Perhaps his dream of being a Maple Leaf could come true as fans and analysts are clamoring for the Buds to have him join the organization.

The Leafs have had a strong first 43 games to their 2024-25 season. With a 27-14-2 record and 56 points, they are leading the Atlantic division, four points ahead of the Florida Panthers.

Surprisingly, Toronto has enjoyed all of this success despite a below-average power play. The Leafs are tied for 18th in the NHL on the man advantage at a 21.1% conversion rate. With the likes of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, their power play was expected to be among the best in the league.

This has sparked debate throughout Leafs Nation. Former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton spoke on "Leafs Morning Take" on Friday about the possibility of bringing in Boudreau to help their woes.

"I don't think there's any risk, especially the amount of people that the Leafs employ, like, especially going through myself to people I don't even know what they do," Hutton said (01:35). "It's like you have these unlimited resources outside of the cap. Like, what is one more guy just to have in an office? I always thought St. Louis did a really good job of that when I was there, Doug Armstrong wasn't shy to bring guys in that were out of work.

"And, yeah, just have them there as, like another sounding board, right? And at the end of the day, that's going to make your team better. And another example, Ken Hitchcock works for the Blues, right? He's not around the players. He doesn't need to be around the players. He just can be a guy that's like a resource to Savard to Berube to guys that have been through it and seen different, and see the game sometimes from a different light. So for what it's worth. I don't think there's any harm in trying that way, but Bruce is good for TV, that's for sure."

Bruce Boudreau has produced many elite power plays in his coaching career

Bruce Boudreau knows a thing or two about a good power play. He was behind the bench of the Washington Capitals for four full seasons from 2007-08 to 2010-11 and had the second-best power play percentage of any team in the NHL at 21.8%, behind only the Detroit Red Wings (22%).

He followed that up with a 24.8% clip on the power play while coaching the Vancouver Canucks from 2019-20 to 2022-23. This was a massive increase from the Canucks' 19.8% conversion rate under Travis Green.

As Carter Hutton said, there's no risk in hiring Boudreau and there could be massive rewards. Should the Maple Leafs' power play continue to struggle, a move could be necessary before it's too late.