Bruce Boudreau liked what he heard from the Senators.

Now, it’s up to the Senators to decide if they liked what they heard from him.

The former Anaheim Ducks coach had a lengthy meeting with Senators GM Pierre Dorion and assistant GM Randy Lee at an undisclosed location Friday and, as it stands now, he’s scheduled to return to his California home sometime Saturday.

The Senators were hoping to be down to their shortlist of two or three candidates by sometime Friday and unless the talks between Dorion, Lee and Boudreau were a total disaster, the 61-year-old is expected be on it. You have to think Mike Yeo (former Minnesota Wild coach) and Guy Boucher (ex-Tampa Bay Lightning coach) are getting strong consideration as well.

Boudreau, for his part, felt good when he wrapped up his interview.

“I was very impressed with Pierre and Randy and I was comfortable with them but you will have to ask them how it went,” Boudreau said in a text to Postmedia Friday afternoon.

The belief is the talks between Boudreau and Dorion, which started early Friday morning and stretched into the afternoon, went well.

Since Boudreau travelled all the way here from Anaheim to do the lengthy sitdown with Dorion plus visit with his daughter Kasey and his grand-daughter, who both live in the area, it’s quite possible the Senators could tell him not to board a plane Saturday and stick around here for more talks.

Senators owner Eugene Melnyk told a Toronto radio station earlier this week the club hoped to have its shortlist in place by Friday. He is scheduled to meet with the top two candidates while Lee and senior adviser Bryan Murray are also expected to sit with Dorion for the second round of the interview process.

Depending on how well the discussion with Boudreau went, the Senators could just proceed to a shortlist of one, move to offer him the job and then see if they’re able to get a contract done. However, a league executive told Postmedia this week that can be a risky proposition if you can’t get a deal done with the guy you want to have the job.

It’s not known what kind of salary expectations Boudreau will have. He was making approximately $1.5 million with the Ducks last season and there’s no question he’ll be looking for a raise because there is competition for his services with the Minnesota Wild putting their search on hold until they get an answer from Boudreau.

If it progresses to the point where there are contract discussions with the Senators and the talks with Boudreau’s camp don’t go well, then the club could always go in another direction. It’s not known they whether they’ve reached out to former Calgary Flames coach Bob Hartley, who was fired Monday.

Boudreau told Postmedia before the interview Thursday night the fact he has family here is playing a major role in is interest in the Ottawa job.

“My daughter lives here, my grand-daughter who I don’t get to see too often and she’s only (18 months) and actually all my family is back East. That’s always a really compelling thing,” Boudreau said. “Ottawa itself is compelling ... because they’ve got the opportunity to be a pretty good team and they’ve got a lot of pretty good pieces in place.”

Many believe Boudreau would be the right fit for the Senators.

“Very good special teams. Very good with allowing star players to grow their brand. Very good in terms of developing young players (and) coaches a very entertaining style of hockey,” said NBC analyst Pierre McGuire during his daily hit on TSN 1200 on Friday.

“I have a lot of respect for (Boudreau). I felt terrible for him when they lost that Game 7. I don’t care who wins and loses in these things, I really don’t, but I care about people in the game and everybody knew if he lost that Game 7 he was going to be terminated from his position. I felt really badly for him.

“I think he brings a lot to what it’s all about right now as a group and where they’re program is trying to go. It wouldn’t be a bad hire.”

Give Dorion credit because he’s left no stone unturned and many of the candidates have been impressed with what they’ve heard in their discussions with him.

He’s travelled across North America to interview candidates — including Yeo, Boucher, Marc Crawford (Dallas), Kevin Dineen (Chicago), Randy Carlyle (Toronto), Benoit Groulx (Gatineau Olympiques). It’s believed Boudreau was the only one who actually travelled to Ottawa for a session.

It’s believed the Senators have been impressed with everybody on the list and no matter what direction they decide to go with this, it’s going to be a difficult decision.

There is no question this process is coming to a close and it won’t be long before Dorion decides which direction the franchise will turn.

CAGGIULA LIKELY TAKING PASS ON SENS

The Senators will not be getting college free agent Drake Caggiula (inset).

TSN’s Bob MacKenzie reported Friday that the North Dakota forward has decided to sign with the Edmonton Oilers.

Caggiula, 21, a Pickering native who won an NCAA championship this spring, had 25 goals and 26 assists in 39 games.

The Senators were one of the finalists for Caggiula and had his team not advanced to the championship final, there was a pretty good chance he may have signed with Ottawa.

Instead, Caggiula, who visited the city, believes he can get a better opportunit yin Edmonton.

Meanwhile, the Senators likely won’t have No. 21 pick Colin White at training camp next year because it looks like he’s opted to stay in school. TSN’s Darren Dreger, who is at the world championship in St. Petersburg, Russia, tweeted Friday afternoon White is leaning towards staying in school.

If he does, that would be just fine with the Senators because general manager Pierre Dorion and assistant GM Randy Lee both feel he needs more time to develop.

Email: bgarrioch@postmedia.com

Twitter: @sungarrioch