Boughner to serve as associate coach of Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings have announced that Windsor native Bob Boughner will be an associate coach for the team.

Boughner joins the Red Wings having spent parts of three seasons as the head coach of the San Jose Sharks. He was fired on July 1.

Before leading the Sharks, Boughner coached the Florida Panthers for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.

Before leading the Panthers, Boughner coached the Windsor Spitfires for eight seasons from 2006-15. He was also the team's president from 2005-21 and part-owner from 2005-19, except for the 2010-11 season when he was an assistant coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

He led the Spitfires to two consecutive OHL Championships and Memorial Cups in 2009 and 2010. Boughner was named CHL Coach of the Year those two seasons, and he led the Spitfires to the playoffs in five of his eight seasons with the team.

For Team Canada, Boughner was an assistant coach at the 2018 IIHF World Championship, where Canada finished fourth. Boughner also coached Canada to the gold medal at the 2009 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

Before turning to coaching, Boughner, nicknamed "The Boogieman" during his playing career, was selected by the Red Wings 32nd overall at the 1989 NHL draft. He played 630 NHL games with six teams, racking up 1,382 penalty minutes.

Boughner was hired alongside Alex Westlund, who was announced as the Red Wings' new goaltending coach.

The Red Wings made another move today at the NHL draft. The Wings acquired goaltender Ville Husso in a trade with the St. Louis Blues, and signed the Finnish goaltender to a three-year contact with an average annual value of $4.75 million.

The moves are both part of the Wings' summer which has also seen the hiring of Derek Lalonde as the team's new head coach.