Boudreau talks reaching 1,000 NHL games, Canucks in sit-down with NHL.com

We talk to key figures in the game, gaining insight into their lives on and off the ice.This edition features Vancouver Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau.Bruce Boudreau will coach in his 1,000th NHL game when the Vancouver Canucks play the St. Louis Blues at Rogers Arena on Sunday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, BSMW, ESPN+, NHL LIVE). So to get this 1,000th game after not being in the NHL until you're 53, I think is pretty cool that I finally feel like I'm accepted as a guy that's been in the NHL for a while."Boudreau is 577-305-117 in 14 NHL seasons with the Washington Capitals (2007-2011), Anaheim Ducks (2011-2016), Minnesota Wild (2016-2020) and the Canucks, who hired him Dec. 5 to replace Travis Green. Vancouver (18-18-4) is 10-3-2 since Boudreau became coach, including wins in its first seven games.Boudreau is trying to duplicate what he did in his first NHL job with the Capitals. The Capitals were 37-17-7 during the remainder of the season to finish first in the Southeast Division and qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.Boudreau won the Jack Adams Award voted as NHL coach of the year that season.NHL.com caught up with Boudreau and talked about his memories from his first 999 NHL games, trying to turn around the Canucks, his time between coaching gigs and Alex Ovechkin.What memories from your time coaching in the NHL stand out?"I think when we won the last game my first year [with Washington] to finally make the playoffs. We'd love to win a championship, but we want to make it a viable place for other people to see games in Hershey in a great venue, and at the end of the year we just want to give everything back to the community and be part of the community because that's where we live now."Your son, Ben, won a championship coaching in the ECHL with Fort Wayne last season. So he took that and he said, 'Fine.' He's only in his early 30s, but he's lived in about seven different places, so he's getting accustomed to the moving."When the Canucks were in Washington last Sunday, Alex Ovechkin scored his ninth goal and 18th point in 12 games against you since you were let go by the Capitals (per NHL Stats).