Jose Theodore accuses NHL head coach of racism.

A former National Hockey League MVP has made some pretty bold statements regarding one of his former coaches and given how these things have played out in recent history I have to question his motivations. 

Former Vezina Trophy winner and former Hart Memorial Trophy winner Jose Theodore was a recent guest on a podcast hosted by former National Hockey League players Guillaume Latendresse and Maxim Lapierre, I know it seems like everyone has a podcast these days, when he made some pretty heated comments about his former head coach during his time with the Washington Capitals, that coach of course being current head coach of the Minnesota Wild Bruce Boudreau. Theodore ripped into Boudreau for being the kind of guy that would have mustard and ketchup on his tie while also criticizing the coach for the way that he handles goaltenders, effectively treating them like objects according to Theodore. 

Now all of this would, at least in my opinion, fall under the umbrella of normal criticism from a disgruntled former player, however Theodore's accusations against Boudreau did not stop there, and things in fact got very serious at one point. Theodore outright accused the NHL head coach of being a racist, seemingly trying to mitigate his accusations before laying it right out.

"I don't want to say that Bruce Boudreau is a racist, but he's a racist" said Theodore on the podcast.

So where does this accusation stem from? Well according to Theodore the head coach would often make comments about Quebecois players, that is to say French-Canadian players who are from Canada's French speaking province of Quebec, that Theodore clearly did not appreciate. Theodore did not elaborate on what those comments may have been however. 

"You know he played back in the 70's when things were different," said Theodore.

On top of his alleged bias towards French Canadian players Theodore believes that Boudreau simply had a bad attitude towards goaltenders in general. The former NHL star would go on to add that he feels Boudreau exhibited some of the same problems with goaltender Jonas Hiller in Anaheim and with goaltender Devan Dubnyk in Minnesota, clearly believing that Boudreau simply does not get how to properly handle goalies as a head coach. 

You can watch the full two hour podcast below, however be warned as the video is entirely in French.