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“I’ve lived it before at different levels” Boucher said on the weekend. “As long as you know that’s what you’re doing, and you’re not lying to yourself or the public or everybody, that what you’re doing is growing.

“I remember in junior, after my first year in Drummondville, we felt we were going to have an average team and we decided, ‘Let’s go for it’. We went with 15 rookies, we traded away some guys, we knew it would hurt and it was difficult, but because we said that we were going to groom our young guys the barn was full all year. We never won but it was a great year.

“Everybody was on the same page and everybody knew we were going and guess what happened? The year after that we won the championship and we broke 31 records — offensive records of all kinds.”

But this is going to be a lot different than junior for Boucher because this is a rebuild that needs to be sold publicly. The fanbase isn’t pleased that Karlsson was dealt for a package that’s most made up picks and prospects. The decision has been made to take a step back to try to take a step forward.

However, Boucher is hopeful that the group assembled is able to gel together quickly to get the job done. He’s appreciated the attitude of the young players and is hopeful they’ll be able to make the next step to be ready for opening night Oct. 4th against the Chicago Blackhawks.

“As much as we’ve heard we’re going to have a lot of new players and young kids, some are clear because they’re trades and the guys are here, but you’re not going to have a young guy just because you want to have a young guy in the lineup. The kid has got to be ready,” Boucher said.