Guy Boucher is a free agent now after being fired by Bern in the Swiss league, something that happened in part because he wasn’t willing to sign an extension, although he has nothing but positive things to say about the Swiss organization. He values his time spent there.

Paul Maurice and Bob Hartley both have commented that their experiences overseas made them better coaches and introduced new ideas in their game plan, which helped them in their returns to an NHL bench.

Boucher feels the same will be true for him if he gets that NHL chance again.

"Absolutely," Boucher said over the phone from Switzerland. "What’s important is that you continue to grow wherever you are. You are so right, when you look at Paul Maurice going to the KHL and Bob Hartley coming here to Switzerland, the thing about it is that you see different things. I think what this experience gives you is a different look but also different tools. I’ve always been a big fan of picking up tools. Whether you look at power play, or 5-on-5, penalty kill, you’ve got systems that are different."

Plus, Boucher added, there’s the fact that you’re dealing with players from different backgrounds, and that’s an education, too.

"I’m not mistaken, in the NHL, close to 40 percent of the players on the top two lines and top-four defensemen in the NHL are Europeans if you include the Russians," said Boucher. "Which means if you’re coaching in the NHL, you have to deal with individuals that come from a total different culture, different hockey, different way of seeing the game. What it does being over here, it forces you to tap into them rather than the opposite, tap into their background and their philosophies.

"It gives you a much better set of tools after that to better understand them. I just feel I have a much better take now on them. So I think the approach for me when I’m back in North America will be different with those players."

Boucher will coach Canada in the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland, during the Christmas holidays. He believes his experience in Switzerland has made him a better coach.

"I just think it opens your horizons on other things you’re not used to in North America," said Boucher. "It makes you rethink a lot of things you do in a positive way. It makes you tweak some things you were doing before."

There have been discussions with NHL teams, to be sure, the past two years.

"It’s been for different roles, some were for head coach, some were for assistant or associate," said Boucher. "This past summer where I had a small window [in his contract with Bern to talk to NHL teams], it was all about head-coaching opportunities, I was in contact with three NHL teams. The previous summer was also three teams, but one was for associate coach and two others for power play, two teams wanted me to coach their power play because everyone knows that’s my forte."

Boucher sounds like a man ready for his second NHL go-round.

"I’m older, I’ve learned a lot," he said. "I’m ready."