Komets assistant coach Ben Boudreau could have the unenviable task of telling some of the team’s top players today that they’re going to be out of the lineup for Game 4 of the Central Division finals.

You can bet that he’ll just be honest with them about the situation – the Komets need to shake things up after Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to the Toledo Walleye – taking a cue from his father, Bruce, one of the NHL’s best and most popular coaches.

Bruce Boudreau, who has been the Minnesota Wild’s coach for two seasons, said the biggest piece of advice he gave his son when he got into coaching was this: “I just said to be yourself and to be as honest to the players as you can because they’ll respect that way more out of you. If you don’t tell them the truth and they find out, they’ll sort of lose a lot of trust in a hurry.”

Bruce Boudreau, 63, has seen just about everything one could imagine through a professional playing career that began in 1975, included 150 NHL games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks and ended with the Komets in 1992, plus a coaching career that has seen him lead 10 teams in five different leagues.

The man known as “Gabby” – he’s a talker – won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach in 2008, after taking over 22 games into the season with the Alex Ovechkin-led Washington Capitals. He coached the Capitals until 2012, then the Anaheim Ducks until 2016, using the colorful personality hockey fans in Fort Wayne have known about for ages.

The stories are many, from Paul Newman’s apartment in “Slap Shot” actually being Boudreau’s when he played in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to a young Wayne Gretzky emulating the way Boudreau played in juniors for the Toronto Marlboros, and of course the 1990-91 Komets that had Lonnie Loach with 55 goals and 131 points, Boudreau with 40 goals and 120 points and John Anderson with 40 goals and 83 points.

Boudreau got his coaching start with the Komets as a player/assistant, went to Muskegon of the Colonial Hockey League for a season in 1992-93 as head coach, then returned to Fort Wayne as Al Sims’ replacement in 1993. He led them to the Turner Cup Finals but was fired by the Frankes, who still own the Komets, 39 games into the 1994-95 season.

He went on to win championships with Mississippi of the ECHL and Hershey of the American Hockey League. He’s always had a love for the Komets, who he watched play Wednesday.

“You know what’s weird? You see No. 27 and I think it’s (former player) Kelly Hurd. I see 21 and I think it’s Lee Davidson. The numbers that you’re seeing out there are reminding you of players that you played with. From up here in a Komets uniform, they sort of look the same,” Bruce Boudreau said.

Ben Boudreau is in his first season as Gary Graham’s top assistant.

“My wife said today, ‘I can finally wear my orange jacket back to a game.’ She used to wear it in Anaheim. But since we’ve gotten out of Anaheim, she’s never worn it again. But when you see the orange and black, it’s kind of cool. Orange is a cool color to see,” Bruce Boudreau said.

With the Wild, Boudreau replaced another former Komets coach, John Torchetti.

“It’s pretty cool. Ben will phone me after a game or the next day and tell me, ‘Our power play did this or this,’ and ask what I think about situations like that,” Bruce Boudreau said. “The one thing I notice is that with Ben doing his job, I talk to him a lot more than if he wasn’t. Now, we can talk hockey on a daily basis. I wish I talked to my daughter that much, or to my other son.

“Ben will call me when he’s bummed out or when he’s happy (about the team).”

Bruce Boudreau remembers attending the 2010 International Hockey League finals and being nervous as Ben played against, and lost to, the Komets. This is more fun.

“I think it’s always tougher to see your son play because you’re actually seeing them on the ice,” he said. “(My son) Brady is a goaltender and I can’t stand watching it because every shot (matters). But what I look for is the stuff that Ben will talk to me about. I can see if I can help him in any way.”