An NHL insider just revealed the real reason Jim Montgomery was fired

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Joshua Deeds
November 24, 2024 (10:40)

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The Boston Bruins made an unpopular decision this week, and that was to fire winning coach Jim Montgomery. Montgomery had success behind the Bruins bench, despite the roster being subpar for a coach like himself.

Montgomery, 55, had a 120-41-23 record (.715 points percentage) in three seasons with the Bruins, making the playoffs twice.

The turnover from retirements and trades hadn't helped their situation, as they lost David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron to retirement.

Despite being short-handed, Montgomery helped will the team to a berth in the playoffs, with a roster consisting of veterans and young players, like John Beecher, Trent Frederic, and Morgan Geekie.

The third season of his coaching career with the Bruins saw him lose his job with a 9-9-3 record to start the season. The team looked disjointed, and brutal early in the season, and it looked as if Montgomery had lost the room.

However, according to NHL Inside Elliotte Friedman, there may have been more to Montgomery's firing than we suspected.

There was internal conflict between the front office and Montgomery.

"The one thing that I look at from everything that happened this week is, I hope there is a day where we get a chance to hear what kinda happened in those negotiations between the Bruins and Montgomery," said Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast. "Because I don't think it is as simple as they made him an offer and they couldn't come to a deal.... I think it was deeper than that."

Instead of being blamed on the team's inability to extend Montgomery, he believes it was a conflict of vision regarding the Bruins' future.

"I think it was more than just they couldn't reach financial terms, I think there was some talk over direction of the team," revealed Friedman. "I don't know if Sweeney and Montgomery saw the future the same way."

Likewise, he had issues with the assistant coaches available to him and wasn't able to select those to his liking.

"Picking assistant coaches, that was a bit of a bone of contention between the two of them too," revealed Friedman.

Friedman also believes that the primary driver of the firing was a conflict behind the scenes between, the front office and Jim Montgomery. Did they ever really like him?

"I think it's not as simple as the obvious, I think there were some deeper philosophical disagreements there and I think at the end they kind of realized that maybe they just weren't compatible with each other."

If that is the case, this is a trend that has continued since Claudie Julien. How is Don Sweeney and Cam Neely able to shield themselves from the consequences at this point?