Washington Capitals: Firing Bruce Boudreau Was Only Solution Going Forward | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Former Capitals captain Dale Hunter will take over as head coach, and his first game will be Tuesday at home against the St. Louis Blues.

This was the old case of superstar vs. coach, and it is a battle the coach rarely wins. He and Ovechkin were not the only reason, however, to consider finding a new coach.

The Capitals have more talent than almost every NHL team, yet they have failed in the playoffs in every season under his watch, and never even made a conference finals appearance.

Two of the last four seasons ended in the first round of the playoffs for Washington, and that is simply unacceptable for the talent they have.

Boudreau recently became the fastest coach to win 200 games, and while his overall regular season record was an impressive at 201-88-40, his playoff resume was quite poor.

The hiring of Hunter is a great one. He was a very good player who displayed great passion on the ice.

Hunter's biggest challenge is to solve the mystery of Ovechkin's early-season struggles. The star winger has not played well this season, scoring just eight goals with nine assists.

Last season he scored fewer than 50 goals for the first time in three years, and he is on pace to have much fewer than 50 this season.

One aspect of Ovechkin's game that Hunter must improve is his defense. Ovechkin has not become the complete two-way force that fans want him to be, and his plus-minus rating of minus-seven is terrible for some as talented as him.

The Capitals had no choice in firing Boudreau. The team was struggling, things were not looking better, and their superstar player was not playing well.

For Washington to get to the conference finals and the Stanley Cup Final, they needed a new voice and a new leader.

Hunter is a good choice to lead the Capitals deep into the playoffs on a consistent basis, because there is no excuse to fail with the talent they have.