After firing Head Coach Jim Montgomery on Nov. 19, the Bruins front office selected Associate Coach Joe Sacco as interim head coach, and the team is 6-2 under Sacco. But is the coaching change really what improved their game on the ice?
Montgomery’s three-year contract ended after this season anyway and with no renewal in the offseason, it wasn’t a complete shock he was kicked to the curb (or rather, to the St. Louis Blues). However, the B’s problem may lie higher up.
President Cam Neely and General Manager Don Sweeney are known for booting head coaches, firing Claude Julien after 10 seasons, including a Stanley Cup in 2011 (2007-2017) and Bruce Cassidy after five (2017-2022). Neely is in his 14th year as president of the Bruins and Sweeney his ninth as GM, and it’s been 13 years since the B’s have won a Cup.
Sweeney and Neely are the ones who prioritized center Elias Lindholm and defenseman Nikita Zadorov–bigger players, but not faster, less than two months after Sweeney (correctly) said the Bruins needed more speed. As well, Sweeney emphasized the Bruins’ need for secondary scoring, but didn’t follow through on that initiative either.
“In fact, the Bruins went full abandon ship on the secondary scoring front and let every secondary scorer they had—Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, and James van Riemsdyk—depart as free agents,” Ty Anderson, sports reporter for 98.5 The Sports Hub, said.
Moving on from Montgomery has been regarded as an “easy fix,” considering Sweeney and Neely’s history with head coaches, his contract’s last year, and their offseason moves beg the question how much of the Bruins 8-9-3 start was Monty’s fault. Firing the head coach is way easier than making a major in-season trade, and has been proven to be a common “fix” throughout the National Hockey League.
“There’s not another GM in hockey who’s been allowed to fire three coaches before meeting the executioner’s blade himself,” Anderson said.
Sacco’s five wins in seven games have not been against very mighty challengers. The New York Islanders, Chicago Blackhawks, and Montreal Canadiens are all last in their divisions. The Utah Hockey Club and Detroit Red Wings (x2) are bottom three in theirs. As well, one of two losses under Sacco was to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are also bottom three in their division.
Before becoming interim head coach, Sacco worked on the Bruins’ penalty kill, which has never been worse than this year. Ranked 19/32, the B’s are leagues behind the leaders in the Atlantic division. What the Bruins are prevailing in, however, is penalty minutes with 299, only one minute behind the first place team Utah.
“And one can’t help but ask if Sacco has the goods and knowledge to bring the Bruins back to the consistent level Sweeney and Neely want, then why wasn’t he doing that as an associate coach?” Anderson said.
Bruins captain Brad Marchand said after the news broke that the firing was avoidable.
“That’s the tough part about this is that if we had done our job in here, he would still be around, so [we] feel terrible as a group, individually that we let a really good coach and a really good person down and the effect it has not just on him, but on his family,” Marchand said.
However, Monty’s inconsistencies in 20 games may have been an indicator of what’s to come, putting the B’s out of playoff contention with his record. Fans have also not been watching the Bruins this season due to disappointing losses, and ticket sales were rumored to have been on the decline toward the end of Monty’s run.
“I would normally watch them, but it’s a losing season, and they’re awful,” Bruins fan Stefanie McDonald said to WCVB.
“Might be time for a new voice!” Bruins fan Mike Jezard said to WCVB.
Sweeney felt the Bruins were “flat” during preseason training camp and many top players from last season had been underperforming under Monty.
“Again, it’s not always on the coach, but this decision is the right one, given the Bruins’ current state,” Joe McDonald, reporter for The Hockey News, said.
The coaching change is final and Marchand and the Bruins need to regroup, regain their identity and focus on improving as a team.
Only time will tell if Sacco is what the B’s need, or if this newfound winning streak is pure luck.
