Gilles Bouchard joined the Syracuse Crunch as an assistant coach in 2019-20 after spending the previous five seasons with the Rouyn- Noranda Huskies in the QMJHL. He compiled a 204-104-32 record for the Huskies, capturing the QMJHL championship for the first time in franchise history in 2016. He won the QMJHL’s Maurice Filion Trophy for General Manager of the Year and the Ron-Lapointe Trophy for Coach of the Year for the 2015-16 season.

Under Bouchard’s tutelage, the Crunch featured five 20-goal scorers and two 30-goal scorers, while the team’s power play clicked at 20.9%, their best mark since the 2000-01 season.

The Normandin, Quebec native won a silver medal as the Head Coach of Team Canada Red at the 2017 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

As a player, Bouchard spent three seasons in the QMJHL from 1988 to 1991 with Shawinigan, Trois-Rivie`res, Beauport and Chicoutimi. He also played two seasons with the Universite´ de Que´bec a` Trois-Rivie`res, claiming the Queen’s Cup in 1996, followed by a four-year stint in the QSPHL with Louiseville, Asbestos and Thetford Mines from 1996 to 2000.

He replaced Jeff Halpern on the Crunch staff after Halpern was promoted to the same position with the Tampa Bay Lightning.