Mike Felger, Tony Massarotti and “Big Jim” Murray offer instant reaction to the breaking news that the Boston Bruins have fired head coach Jim Montgomery and promoted Joe Sacco to interim head coach.
The Boston Bruins have fired head coach Jim Montgomery after a little more than two seasons on the bench.
The decision to make a coaching change was announced by the team Tuesday afternoon. Montgomery was in the final year of his contract. He will be replaced by Bruins associate coach Joe Sacco. Sacco is in his 11th season behind the Bruins bench. He was the Colorado Avalanche head coach from 2009-10 through 2012-13.
“Today, I made a very difficult decision with regards to a coaching change," Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said in a press release. "Jim Montgomery is a very good NHL coach and an even better person. He has made a positive impact throughout the Bruins organization, and I am both grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to work with him and learn from him. Jim’s accomplishments as the Bruins head coach include a record-breaking and historic season, and I want to thank his entire family and wish him, Emily, J.P., Colin, Ava and Olivia all the success and happiness with their next opportunity.
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"Our team’s inconsistency and performance in the first 20 games of the 2024-25 season has been concerning and below how the Bruins want to reward our fans. I believe Joe Sacco has the coaching experience to bring the players and the team back to focusing on the consistent effort the NHL requires to have success. We will continue to work to make the necessary adjustments to meet the standard and performance our supportive fans expect.”
Montgomery's firing isn't super surprising when you consider Boston's difficult start to the season. The Bruins entered Tuesday with a 8-9-3 record. Despite the rough start, the B's are still in the second wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
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Expectations were very high for the franchise coming into the 2024-25 campaign after it won a round in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs and spent a lot of money in the offseason (free agency, specifically) to improve the roster.
But instead of taking a step forward, the B's have taken a step back in many facets. The team's top players aren't meeting expectations offensively. Both special teams units have struggled, too. The power play ranks dead last (32nd) and the penalty kill is 26th.
The Bruins also have been remarkably undisciplined, leading the league in penalty minutes and minor penalties taken. The B's also haven't scored at a high level and rank 31st with 2.40 goals per game. They've also been the league's worst third period team with a minus-12 goal differential over the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Montgomery was hired in July of 2022 to replace Bruce Cassidy. The B's set NHL records for the most wins and points by a team in Montgomery's first season, but that excitement was short lived as they were eliminated in the first round by the Florida Panthers. The B's were in the Presidents' Trophy mix again last season and defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round before losing to the Panthers again in Round 2.
Montgomery finishes his Bruins career with a 120-41-23 record in the regular season and a 9-11 record in the playoffs. He won the 2023 Jack Adams Award.
The Bruins' first game with Sacco in charge will be against Utah on Thursday night at TD Garden.
