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Boston Bruins Hire Jim Montgomery

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The Bruins have found their next head coach as they officially announced on Friday that they have hired Jim Montgomery as their new head coach.  He takes over for Bruce Cassidy who was fired earlier this offseason.  GM Don Sweeney released the following statement about the hire:

Jim has a winning history, and throughout the interview process he conveyed his ability to connect with all types of players while also demanding that his teams play with structure. We are excited for Jim to begin to make his imprint on our team.

This hire is a bit of a surprising one, as the Bruins had been interviewing candidates such as David Quinn and Jay Leach, coaches with deep ties to either Boston hockey or the Bruins organization. Montgomery does not have such deep ties to the Bruins, and the Montreal native did not play in the Boston area during his 122-game NHL career. He did have an extremely successful career at the University of Maine, which is technically within New England, but still, his ties to the area are dwarfed by the other reported finalists.

Montgomery is an intriguing candidate in part because of why he’s in this position in the first place. After an extremely successful tenure at the helm of the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints, winning two championships in three years, he left to coach the NCAA’s University of Denver. There, Montgomery won the 2017 NCAA National Championship.

That success at Denver led Montgomery to his first NHL head coaching job, taking the reins of a Dallas Stars franchise that had missed the playoffs the year before. Montgomery’s player-focused, upbeat coaching style immediately connected with the Stars players, and he went 43-32-7 and won a playoff series. The next year, though, Montgomery was fired early in the season for what the team called “unprofessional conduct.” After his firing, Montgomery made his struggles with alcohol abuse public, and began the process of rehabilitation.

His recovery was successful enough for him to earn another chance to coach in the NHL, this time as an assistant on Craig Berube’s St. Louis Blues staff. There, Montgomery coached a powerplay that rocketed to among the league’s best, and it’s on the back of that success that he gets his second chance at being an NHL head coach, now in Boston, where ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports that he has received a three-year deal worth around $2MM annually.

For the Bruins, the hire of Montgomery represents a significant departure from Cassidy’s style of management. Cassidy’s more demanding style reportedly wore on the Bruins’ players and played a role in his firing despite all the success he had. Montgomery’s style is a departure from Cassidy’s, as he is by all reports a highly approachable, player-first bench boss. It remains to be seen if the team’s swap of Cassidy for Montgomery, and the stylistic changes that result from that swap, is ultimately successful. But what we do know now is that this move, at the very least, gives a coach who was once viewed as a rising star the second chance at coaching that he’s worked so hard to earn.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was the first to report that Montgomery was set to become Boston’s head coach.

Latest On Boston Bruins Coaching Search

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There could be an answer as soon as today on who will be the next head coach of the Boston Bruins and a new name has entered the ring. Joe McDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that Pittsburgh Penguins assistant Mike Vellucci has interviewed for the job. In fact, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff believes that Vellucci has been interviewed twice now.

Still, Seravalli notes that the finalists are Vellucci, Jay Leach, and David Quinn, with many believing that the latter is the front-runner for the opening.

Vellucci, 55, may not have a lot of NHL experience but he is a proven winner at basically every level along the way. The former Hartford Whalers defenseman has won championships in the NAHL, OHL, and most recently the AHL, taking home the Calder Cup with the Charlotte Checkers in 2019. He has been named Coach of the Year at all three levels and has now been behind the bench with Pittsburgh for the past two seasons.

The Bruins, who fired Bruce Cassidy after a disappointing playoff exit, seem focused on less experienced names for the vacancy. Leach also has experience as a head coach in the minor leagues–with the Providence Bruins, no less–but has just one year behind an NHL bench as an assistant. David Quinn had just one year as an assistant when he landed the New York Rangers head coaching job in 2018, a tenure that lasted just three seasons.

Boston is one of three teams still without a coach, along with the Detroit Red Wings and Winnipeg Jets.

East Notes: Quinn, Devils Front Office, Sabres

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Eyebrows raised leaguewide when the Boston Bruins fired Bruce Cassidy, letting him walk to the Vegas Golden Knights in coaching free agency. Now, they seem to have zeroed in on a replacement. Although he’s been interviewed and/or linked to multiple teams so far, The Fourth Period’s Shawn Hutcheon reports that the Bruins have made former New York Rangers head coach David Quinn their leading candidate for the role. While other names like former Providence head coach Jay Leach had been rumored, they seem to have opted for another “hometown” coach.

While a Rhode Island native, Quinn has extensive experience in the Boston area, spending multiple years as an associate coach and head coach with Boston University. Quinn did not coach this past season after the Rangers replaced him with Gerard Gallant this past offseason, aside from serving as the head coach for the United States at the Olympics and World Championships.

  • The New Jersey Devils seem to have quietly cleaned out some front office names, removing the roles of Patrick Rissmiller (player development coach), Pierre Mondou (amateur scout), and Andrey Plekhanov (European scout) from their website. Rissmiller will leave the only front office job he’s ever known, holding the role with New Jersey since he retired as a player in 2015. Mondou, 66, was let go after nearly 20 years of scouting for New Jersey. Plekhanov had been with the team for four seasons.
  • As the Buffalo Sabres look to finally take that next step forward in 2022-23, the team has announced the dates for their development camp. The session for fringe prospects and rookies will be held July 13-15, with a three-on-three tournament to be held on the 16th.

Minor Notes: Cross, Chaulk, Henault

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The 2021-22 campaign was an extremely successful one for the Springfield Thunderbirds, who fell just short of winning the 2022 Calder Cup. Newly affiliated with the St. Louis Blues, the Thunderbirds made the Calder Cup Final in the first season this iteration of the Springfield AHL franchise even made the playoffs.

Now, the team announced today that the man who captained them there is sticking around. Veteran defenseman Tommy Cross is staying in Springfield on a one-year AHL contract, continuing what’s been a long minor-league career for him. Now 32, the Connecticut native was a 2007 second-round pick of the Boston Bruins who, although he didn’t get a solid NHL role, stayed in the organization until 2018. He did get into four NHL games (three regular-season, one playoff) in Boston, registering a combined two assists. He was a captain in their organization as well, serving in the role for Providence from 2015-2018. One of the most well-respected leaders in the minors, Cross will get another chance at lifting the Calder Cup for the first time.

  • Colin Chaulk stepped into the head coaching role for the Bakersfield Condors when Jay Woodcroft got the call-up to Edmonton mid-season. Today, Bakersfield announced he’ll be sticking around, stripping away the interim tag and naming him the ninth head coach in team history. The Condors won their best-of-three First Round series against the Abbotsford Canucks, but were swept 3-0 in the Division Semifinals by the Stockton Heat.
  • The Baby Rangers are making moves. Via a team release, the Hartford Wolf Pack announced a one-year AHL contract for defenseman Louka Henault. The 2001-born Henault is an undrafted free agent, and after serving as the captain of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires last season, will head to Hartford professionally. In his last season of juniors, Henault scored eight goals, 57 assists, and 65 points in 63 regular-season games, adding 16 points in 25 playoff games.

Boston Bruins Extend Don Sweeney

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The Boston Bruins have made it official, signing general manager Don Sweeney to a multi-year contract extension. The move comes just as his current contract was set to expire, and keeps him at the head of the front office for the foreseeable future.

Bruins’ CEO Charlie Jacobs released a statement:

We are proud to extend Don Sweeney to a multi-year contract as General Manager of the Boston Bruins. Under his management, the Boston Bruins have been one of the winningest franchises in the league and a perennial playoff contender year in and year out. While we recognize there is work to be done to achieve the ultimate goal of bringing the Stanley Cup back to Boston, I’m confident that Don’s commitment to being best-in-class on and off the ice will help us climb that mountain once again.

Team president Cam Neely also expressed praise and confidence in his general manager, explaining that he believes Sweeney is committed to doing “whatever it takes” to give the Bruins the best chance at winning the Stanley Cup.

Since the end of the season, which saw the Bruins exit the first round at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes, Sweeney has drawn plenty of criticism. The firing of well-liked head coach Bruce Cassidy just a few days after he was told he would be back, some eyebrow-raising comments from a source close to winger David Pastrnak, and the still unresolved issue of Patrice Bergeron’s future have made Sweeney the target of many fans’ ire.

Named general manager in 2015, Sweeney has taken the Bruins to the playoffs in each of the last six seasons, including a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019. The team has drafted and developed players like Charlie McAvoy, Jeremy Swayman, Brandon Carlo, and Jake DeBrusk in that time as well, a huge chunk of the team’s current core. Taylor Hall, Charlie Coyle, Hampus Lindholm, and others represent trades that Sweeney orchestrated as well.

It’s the other moves, including several missed draft picks and trades that have taken players like Ryan Lindgren out of the organization that draw so much criticism and have made Sweeney such a hot-button topic for Bruins fans, and what will likely make the reaction to this news rather negative.

The team did not detail how many years the new contract is for. Sweeney is in the process of conducting a search for the team’s next head coach.

Bergeron, Sweeney To Meet Next Week

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The hockey world exploded last night when a report surfaced from Joe McDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette indicating that Patrice Bergeron had decided to return for one more year with the Boston Bruins. While nothing has been announced yet, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and Matt Porter of the Boston Globe reported that Bruins general manager Don Sweeney will meet with Bergeron next week.

There’s no doubt that getting the five-time Selke Trophy winner back would improve the Bruins chances of contending next season, though they will still be starting the year without key players like Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy after recent surgeries. The team also needs a head coach in the meantime, with Porter writing that David Quinn, Jim Montgomery, and Jay Leach are currently the leading candidates.

Offseason Checklist: Boston Bruins

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With the offseason in full swing aside from the two teams in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s time to examine what each squad will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at the Bruins.

It wasn’t a particularly eventful season for Boston who once again was one of the stronger teams in the Atlantic Division and while they wound up in a Wild Card spot, they were safely in a playoff spot early on.  However, they weren’t able to get past Carolina in the first round and since then, it has been a busy few weeks for the Bruins.  GM Don Sweeney will have a lot of work to do over the coming weeks, assuming a new contract gets worked out between now and then.

Hire A New Coach

It was a move that came as a surprise to some but Sweeney and team president Cam Neely opted to make a change behind the bench, dismissing Bruce Cassidy earlier this month.  This, despite the team going 245-108-46 under his watch during the regular season.  The playoff success hasn’t been there, however, with the team playing a game below .500 which likely played a significant role in the decision to make a change.  Cassidy wasn’t out of a job for long and now has a long-term deal to coach in Vegas.

This feels like a crossroads situation for the Bruins and, for the time being, at least, Boston isn’t being linked to many of the veterans that have been around the block with quite a few teams over the years.  Their current crop of known candidates consists primarily of first-time options (Seattle assistant Jay Leach, Toronto assistant Spencer Carbery, and Pittsburgh assistant Mike Vellucci) or one-time NHL bench bosses (David Quinn, St. Louis assistant Jim Montgomery, and Boston assistant Joe Sacco).

Turning to that type of coach could signal an openness to try a different path and perhaps even take a short-term step back as none of these options carry the type of win-now expectations that a ‘recycled’ veteran often does.  At any rate, Boston will want to have their new bench boss in place by the start of free agency on July 13th as the new coach will want to have some say in their personnel moves.

Re-Sign Or Replace Bergeron

Patrice Bergeron has been a fixture down the middle for Boston for the last 18 years.  He’s a five-time Selke Trophy winner and sits 18 points shy of the 1,000-point mark for his career.  The 36-year-old hasn’t shown signs of slowing down and is consistently one of their leading scorers.  But Bergeron is set to become an unrestricted free agent next month and there is some uncertainty about his future as a result.  This isn’t a case of him threatening to test the market and go elsewhere – he has already ruled that out – but rather a case of him deciding whether or not to hang up his skates and call it a career.

That would certainly be a devastating blow for the Bruins as they don’t have anyone in the system to replace him.  If Bergeron does retire, Boston will need to go hard after the notable middlemen in free agency highlighted by Nazem Kadri while Vincent Trocheck will also generate plenty of interest.  If Evgeni Malkin makes it to the open market, they could check in on him as well with a short-term offer.  The other route is to try to trade for an impact middleman but they don’t have their first-rounder this year, their next two second-rounders after next month’s draft, while their prospect pool isn’t the strongest.  That will make it difficult to trade for an impact center if it comes to it.

Adding one will certainly be a necessity if Bergeron retires as they don’t have anyone else that’s even an ideal second-line center let alone a top liner.  Erik Haula and Charlie Coyle have been hit or miss in key offensive roles in their careers and while they are quality secondary players, they aren’t ideal fits on the top trio.  With that in mind, if Bergeron returns, they could still use an impact center behind him.

Forecasting Bergeron’s contract if he chooses to come back is a difficult one since he is limiting his options to only the Bruins; it’s not implausible to think he’d sign a team-friendly contract to give them some extra cap flexibility.  As it stands, they have just over $2MM in cap space which is hardly enough to do much of anything with.  If Bergeron was to sign a one-year deal, he’d be eligible for incentives which would give them the ability to roll those onto the 2023-24 cap and buy themselves a bit of wiggle room for next season.

Determine Pastrnak’s Future

David Pastrnak has certainly provided plenty of value for a late first-round pick back in 2014.  Over his eight-year career, he is just shy of averaging a point per game and has been no lower than third in team scoring over the past six seasons.  Basically, he has been a consistent fixture on Boston’s top line while doing so at a team-friendly price as the 26-year-old has been under contract at $6.67MM for the last five years and is signed for the 2022-23 season at that price as well.

Obviously, Boston’s preference will be to sign Pastrnak to a contract extension as soon as he’s eligible once the new league year begins on July 13th.  It’s going to take a sizable financial commitment to do so and it’s fair to say his camp will be keeping a close tab on Johnny Gaudreau and Filip Forsberg this summer with Pastrnak’s price tag likely to fall somewhere between what those two get.  Something in the $9MM range is certainly doable.

However, there has been some speculation that Pastrnak may not be willing to sign an early extension which will certainly complicate things for Sweeney.  While Boston would undoubtedly command a significant return in a trade for him, doing so would also definitively close their window of contention; if Bergeron was to return, they could plausibly give that core one more chance so that has to be taken into consideration.  While it’s possible that they go into next season without a new deal in place, that does have its risks.  Accordingly, the Bruins will want to have a good sense of what Pastrnak’s intentions are before the start of free agency, so this will need to be near the top of Sweeney’s priority list.

Bring In Defensive Depth

On the surface, the Bruins have some decent defensive depth and will have Jakub Zboril healthy after he missed most of the season due to an injury.  With eight defensemen on one-way deals, it would seem like they wouldn’t need any more help.

However, Matt Grzelcyk is out until at least November and Charlie McAvoy is out until at least December due to offseason shoulder surgeries.  Mike Reilly also underwent offseason surgery but should be ready for training camp.

While Boston’s depth is decent, they’re going to need some extra bodies to get through the first couple of months of the season.  Jack Ahcan could be an option after getting into six games this year but they might want someone with more experience.  Accordingly, Sweeney may have his eyes on some veteran depth players for training camp PTOs or two-way contracts with an intention of having them play in Providence once everyone is healthy.  With the potential for an NHL roster spot or two to start the season, that could be appealing to those players as they consider their options in free agency next month.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Bruins Expected To Interview Spencer Carbery For Head Coach Vacancy

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  • Spencer Carbery is among the candidates for Boston’s head coaching vacancy, reports Joe McDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Twitter link). The 40-year-old does have a bit of previous experience with the Bruins having served as an assistant coach with AHL Providence in 2017-18 before Washington hired him to be the head coach in AHL Hershey.  Carbery got his first taste of working behind an NHL bench this season when Toronto hired him as an assistant coach last summer.

Latest On Boston Bruins Coaching Search

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The NHL’s head coaching market is now moving quickly. The Philadelphia Flyers introduced their next head coach today, and the Vegas Golden Knights did the same yesterday. Next on the list could be the Boston Bruins. After firing Bruce Cassidy earlier this month, the Bruins have a major decision to make with who will be behind their bench next year. With Brad Marchand out for potentially the first two months of the 2022-23 season and team captain and franchise face Patrice Bergeron’s status on returning for next year unknown, there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding a team that hasn’t missed the playoffs in over a half-decade.

Because of that reality, it’s likely that the Bruins’ next coach, whoever that person may be, will be expected to maintain the organization’s winning standard and continue the playoff streak. Given the challenges the Bruins look to be facing early next year, one might assume that GM Don Sweeney, who is running the coaching search, would opt to pick from the top of the coaching market and hire a veteran coach with a long, proven record of success at the NHL level.

That assumption seems to be wrong, though. According to The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa, former New York Rangers head coach David Quinn has “emerged as a top candidate” in the Bruins’ search, and will be interviewing with the team next week. (subscription link) Shinzawa also names Jay Leach, an assistant coach on Dave Hakstol’s staff in Seattle as another “leading candidate.” Both coaches have deep ties to either the Bruins organization or the Boston area but aren’t the sort of big-name, big-ticket head coaching options that some fans may prefer.

Quinn, 55, was most recently the head coach of the United States’ men’s hockey team at the Beijing Winter Olympics, and his most recent NHL experience came as head coach of the New York Rangers. From 2018-19 to 2020-21, Quinn led a rebuilding Rangers club that was struggling in the aftermath of a near decade-long cup-or-bust competitive window. The furthest Quinn took the Rangers in his three years of coaching there was the qualifying round of the 2020-21 Stanley Cup Playoffs, where the Rangers were swept out of the bubble by the Carolina Hurricanes. Quinn’s record over those three years is 96-87-25. Perhaps best known for his upbeat, encouraging style, the height of Quinn’s coaching career came when he led Matt Grzelcyk and the Boston University Terriers to the NCAA National Championship in 2014-15, before losing to Providence College.

The other candidate to be named as a leader in the Bruins’ search by Shinzawa’s sources is Leach, an assistant coach with the Kraken. Before joining Seattle, Leach was the head coach of the Providence Bruins for four seasons. Leach went a combined 136-77-26 in Providence, helping introduce current Bruins such as Jeremy Swayman and Trent Frederic to professional hockey. Leach is a candidate who the current Bruins front office is undoubtedly highly familiar with, and that familiarity could help him in the hiring process. Like Quinn, Leach is also expected to have an interview with Boston in the near future.

While it’s definitely possible that the Bruins hire someone other than one of these two names as their next coach, these two being named as “leading candidates” in the Bruins’ search does shed some light on the team’s priorities in the process. Through these reports, we’re learning about what the Bruins want to see in their next coach. Both Quinn and Leach have vast experience coaching young players specifically, and their shared experiences indicate that skill in player development is something the Bruins are targeting in their next skipper. Both coaches are also known quantities in the world of New England hockey, meaning familiarity with the overall market the Bruins serve could also be a desired trait in this search. Regardless of who specifically they choose, it would be somewhat surprising if the Bruins’ next head coach does not possess at least one of those two qualities.

 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Pontus Aberg, Ryan Spooner Staying In Europe

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A pair of former NHLers are staying across the Atlantic Ocean for the 2022-23 campaign. Swedish winger Pontus Aberg has signed a one-year agreement with BK Mladá Boleslav in the Czech Extraliga, while Canadian forward Ryan Spooner is remaining in the KHL with Dinamo Minsk.

Aberg, 28, attempted an NHL comeback last season when he signed a one-year deal with the Ottawa Senators. However, he was waived prior to the season and spent 17 games with the Belleville Senators before mutually terminating his contract to return to Sweden with Timrå IK in the SHL. He netted two goals, nine assists, and 11 points in those 17 games with Belleville. Aberg’s last taste of NHL action came in 2019-20, where he got a five-game look with the Toronto Maple Leafs, registering one assist. A second-round pick of the Nashville Predators in 2012, Aberg could really never hold onto a full-time NHL role, shuffling between the NHL and AHL in nearly every season he spent in North America.

Spooner hasn’t been in the league since 2018-19, when he split the season between the New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, and Vancouver Canucks. He’s been one of the best scorers in the KHL since then, and after one year in Yekaterinburg, he returns to Dinamo Minsk where he led the club in scoring in 2019-20 with 37 points in 43 games. Spooner had a few NHL stretches where it looked like he could become a great middle-six depth piece, especially when he scored 41 points in 59 games between the Rangers and Boston Bruins in 2017-18. His offense disappeared the next season, however, and he hasn’t returned to North America. Now 30 years old, it’s unlikely he ever will.

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