from Katie Carrera of the Washington Post,

“I’m a little nervous,” Boudreau said of returning to Verizon Center on Monday night to face the Washington Capitals for the first time since they fired him on Nov. 28, 2011. “It’s a little scary because I love going to that building and everything about it, and now you’re on the other side.”

It has been 756 days since the Capitals fired Boudreau, hockey’s gabby everyman turned NHL head coach who ushered Washington back to the playoffs with a high-flying offense built around unleashing the talents of then-young stars Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green.

But even though he took over the helm in Anaheim just two days after he was dismissed, Boudreau still watches every Capitals game thanks to the modern marvel that is DVR.

He can’t help but want to see Ovechkin reclaim his place as the league’s most dynamic scorer, he said. He wants to see how Backstrom continues to mature as a world-class center, how Green finds his way after all the injuries, whether Brooks Laich can fully regain his health, how up-and-comers such as Marcus Johansson, John Carlson and Karl Alzner establish themselves in the league.

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