Hockey fans might know Bruce Boudreau best from his fiery speech documented during HBO's 24/7 sports series in 2010.
Boudreau, then the Washington Capitals head coach, unloaded his profanity-filled frustration with his players' attitudes after 40 minutes of hockey and trailing 1-0 to the Florida Panthers during a regular season game in early December.
Football fans might remember seeing Vikings coach Mike Zimmer in a similar spotlight before he landed in Minnesota. Zimmer was featured on HBO's Hard Knocks in 2009 as Cincinnati's fiery and hardnosed defensive coordinator that often delivered these spirited profanity-filled speeches.
Zimmer still has that same fiery personality after two years as the Vikings head coach.
The two coaches, however, are also known for the way they care for their players.
Many of the Vikings tout Zimmer as a great coach and an even better person that would do anything for his players. The same has been said about Boudreau. Does this mean Boudreau could be the next Zimmer?
They both share similar personalities that have been well-documented on camera. Athletes enjoy playing for them. Both also patiently worked their way up through the coaching ranks before getting an opportunity as a top-level head coach.
Boudreau spent 17 years coaching minor league hockey, mostly as a head coach, before finally getting an opportunity to take over the Washington Capitals at age 53 and leading them to the playoffs in his first season.
Boudreau played professional hockey from 1972-1992 before becoming a coach.
Zimmer spent 15 years as a college assistant/coordinator and 20 more years in a similar role in the NFL before finally earning his first head coaching job with the Vikings at 58 years old.
Patience paid off for both coaches that have been successful as head coaches. If the Wild players buy into Boudreau's coaching style the same way the Vikings did with Zimmer, the Wild will surely benefit.
If you are interested in watching Boudreau or Zimmer's spirited speeches, a simple Google search will track that down for you. Because of the excessive language, we won't embed it on our site. However, here is slice of what Boudreau peppered his team with during the rant:
"Hey, have a seat for a second. I have never seen a bunch of guys look so [explicit] down when something happens. What are you? Prima donna perfect that you can't [explicit] handle adversity?
"Nobody [explicit] wants anyone that's feeling sorry for themselves."
The locker room was silent outside of one faint "Come on boys" and the Capitals lost 3-0 that night.
