MONTREAL – There will be a McGill University reunion of sorts when the Toronto Maple Leafs (46-24-10) take their traveling road show to Miami on Tuesday (April 16) to play the Florida Panthers (51-24-6) in a 7:30 p.m. puck drop at Amerant Bank Arena. Both coaching staffs feature a McGill hockey grad behind the bench, with Guy Boucher (BA '95, BSc (AgrEng) '96) serving as an assistant coach for the Leafs and Jamie Kompon (BEd '89) performing similar duties with the Panthers.
 
The dynamic duo are among 10 McGill products to coach in the National Hockey League (see list below).
 
Boucher, a 52-year-old native of Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Que., who was raised in Montreal's West Island suburb of Roxboro, Que., oversees the Leafs' power-play unit. He has a combined NHL regular season record of 191-186-46 in previous head coaching stints with Tampa (2010-2013) and Ottawa (2016-2019).
 
During his playing days, he was a centre with the McGill varsity hockey team under head coach Jean Pronovost from 1991 to 1995. Boucher, who served as captain in his final season at McGill, recorded 71 goals and 183 points in 141 career games overall. He graduated in 1995 with his first of three degrees, a bachelor of arts, majoring in history and environmental biology. He later followed that with a science degree from McGill in agricultural engineering and a master's degree in sports psychology from Université de Montreal.
 
Kompon, a 57-year-old native of Thunder Bay, Ont., has 25 years of NHL experience, including stints in St. Louis (1997-2006), Los Angeles (2006-2012), Chicago (2012-2014), Winnipeg (2016-2022) and Florida (2022-present). During his playing days, Kompon patrolled the McGill blue line for four seasons (1985 to 1989), receiving the team's rookie-of-the-year award as a freshman and serving as captain in his senior year. He graduated with a physical education degree in 1989, then played two seasons of pro hockey, with stints in Cincinnati, Hampton Roads and Winston-Salem of the East Coast Hockey League and with Selb of the German Elite League.
 
Kompon began his lengthy coaching career in 1991 at McGill, serving three years as an assistant coach before sharing the head coaching duties with Martin Raymond in 1994-95 after the mid-season departure of coach Jean Pronovost to the junior ranks. Kompon also coached and taught at Loyola High School in Montreal's west end. In 2013, Kompon became the first coach in 78 years to win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with different teams, succeeding as an assistant with Chicago that year after winning the coveted mug as an assistant with Los Angeles the previous season. He was the first coach to accomplish that feat since Tommy Gorman guided the Montreal Maroons to a Cup conquest in 1935 after leading Chicago to victory in 1934.

Kompon is also one of 16 former McGill hockey players to get his name engraved on the Cup and only the third to do so as a coach. The other bench bosses were Mike Babcock (Detroit, 2008) and Lester Patrick, who achieved that status twice with the New York Rangers – in 1928 and again in 1933. The most recent McGillian to be inscribed was Mathieu Darche, who won back-to-back Cups with Tampa as director of hockey operations in 2020 and 2021.
 
Kompon is one of three McGill grads currently working with the Panthers. Also on staff is former McGill captain Ken Morin (BA '09), the team's scout for Western Canada, and Jérome Burke (BBA '08), who earned a degree in business administration while playing football at McGill and has been with the Panthers since 2016, serving as the team's director of business operations (2016-2018), chief of staff (2018-2021) and director of hockey administration (2021-present).
 
McGILLIANS WHO COACHED IN THE NHL: 

Lester Patrick – Head Coach, NY Rangers (1926-1939)
*Bryan Murray – Head Coach, Washington, Detroit, Florida, Anaheim, Ottawa (1981-2008)
*Doug Carpenter – Head Coach, New Jersey, Toronto (1984-1991)
George Burnett – Head Coach, Edmonton 1994-95) and Asst. Coach, Anaheim (1998-2000)
Jamie Kompon – Asst. Coach, St Louis (1996-2006), Los Angeles (2006-2012), Chicago (2012-2014), Winnipeg (2016-2022) and Florida (2022-present)
Jon Elkin – Goaltender Coach, Calgary (1999-2002),  Arizona (2014-2017), Toronto (2018-2023), Pittsburgh (2023-present)
Mike Babcock – Head Coach, Anaheim (2002-2005), Detroit (2005-2015), Toronto (2015-2019) and Columbus (2023)
Martin Raymond – Asst. Coach, Tampa (2010-2013) and Ottawa (2016-2019)
Guy Boucher – Head Coach, Tampa (2010-2013) and Ottawa (2016-2019); Assistant coach, Toronto (2023-present)
*Todd Woodcroft – Asst. Coach, Winnipeg (2017-2020)

*McGill graduates but not associated with the school's varsity hockey team

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELIL: 514-983-7012
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
TWITTER: @EarlZukerman