Boston Bruins fire Jim Montgomery? we have the details and it's surprising
While there were plenty of questions to be had by Bruins personnel all-around after a dismal exit from the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in May, GM Don Sweeney and the team had a lot to consider this offseason.
The team had a laundry list of free agents to deal with, along with a starting goalie to sign, and Don Sweeney desperately needed to improve the lineup.
Despite all of this, CEO Charlie Jacobs didn't leave anything unanswered:
The team was bounced in the 2nd round of the playoffs, and with a beaten-down lineup, not many expected the team to make it this far. By all accounts could be considered a success. This means there's unlikely to be major moves made behind the bench or in the front office.
The Bruin's record of 47-20-15 earned them the fourth-best record in the conference and smashed the rival Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1st round of the playoffs in 7 games, which would later be cut down by Florida.
In the long run, it's a true show of the Bruin's depth and skill of coaching, at the very least.
Which involved Montgomery turning a bridge year, into a year of contention, while utilizing depth forwards such as Charlie Coyle, Trent Frederic, and Morgan Geekie in important minutes. This resulted in career years for all three forwards.
They would, of course, be held up by another David Pastrnak 100-point season, the Bruins didn't lose much ground from their historic 62 win, Presidents Trophy year in 2022-2023.
While the Bruin's glaring lineup holes were obvious during the 2nd round series against the Panthers, is all blame solely on Montgomery's shoulders? No, but he does have to be accountable in some way. Ultimately you can't have it both ways, as he turned the Bruin's lack of depth into contenders, and made a 2nd round exit. But all the while they did falter on the power-play going 1 for 16, amongst other issues during the series.
He's had a great two seasons as bench boss for the Boston Bruins with a record of 112-32-20 regular season record, showing a great ability to get the most out of his players. He's faltered two times in the playoffs against the Florida Panthers if he isn't able to be successful this post-season it could spell the end of his tenure in Boston going into 2025-2026.
Montgomery may have to make adjustments to the Bruin's style of play he's always cared about and will have to adapt to overcome his shortcomings, one of which could be his choice to overvalue the quality of opportunities rather than shooting the puck.
But he will have to improve his standing in 2024-2025 to remain the bench boss in Boston and with GM Don Sweeney adding Nikita Zadarov and Elias Lindholm, he should be able to make more noise this coming season.
The goal, of course, is the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup, or at least contention for it and that means felling those pesky cats in Sunrise.
| POLL | ||
Will Jim Montgomery be Bruins coach in 2025-2026? | ||
| Yes | 62 | 70.5 % |
| No | 26 | 29.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
