The Ottawa Senators have hired Guy Boucher as the club's new head coach, the team announced Sunday.

Boucher, 44, signed on for a three-year contract with Ottawa and becomes the 12th head coach in Senators franchise history.

Boucher served as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning for more than two seasons, posting a 97-78-20 record in 195 games. Boucher led the Lightning to the Eastern Conference Final in 2010-11. He was fired during the 2012-13 campaign after a disappointing 13-17-1 start.

Since then, Boucher has spent parts of the last three seasons as the head coach of SC Bern of the National League A in Switzerland, posting a 44-29-5 record.

"Over the past three weeks, Pierre Dorion and our hockey operations staff have undertaken a thorough and comprehensive search for our next head coach. Following a detailed evaluation of all coaching candidates, there was overwhelming consensus that Guy was our top candidate," Senators owner Eugene Melnyk said in a statement released by the team.

"We wanted a great coach and this process yielded our top pick. I couldn't be happier."

The Senators fired head coach Dave Cameron and three assistant coaches last month after the team ended the 2015-16 season eight points out of a playoff spot.