Much to his own surprise, Jim Montgomery didn’t experience the usual flutter of internal butterflies that typically present themselves on the first day of NHL training camp. That nervous surge of anticipation is commonplace for hockey personnel young and old, and would be a valid reaction for a bench boss stepping into his second opportunity to lead an NHL franchise.
But since taking over the helm of the Original Six franchise, Montgomery has already felt at home in his new surroundings — a sentiment that was reinforced on Wednesday during the opening addresses that signaled the start of the Bruins’ 2022 camp.
“Excited — surprisingly, really comfortable just because of the culture that exists here,” Montgomery said Wednesday at Warrior Ice Arena. “The fiber of work, compete and accountability that is echoed from the top — from Cam to Sweens to Bergy to Marchy. And it's true with every player I've met, how they talk about it's special to be here. That makes you really comfortable when that's your own beliefs as well.”
Wednesday was primarily focused on off-ice drills and conditioning assessments, with the real work commencing on Thursday when the B’s 58-man camp roster finally takes to the frozen sheet at Warrior Ice Arena and starts setting the foundations for what could be a promising 2022-23 campaign.
For Montgomery and his staff, Thursday will stand as the first opportunity to begin to assess players in simulated game settings, cook up chemistry between forward lines and defensive pairings and begin to add new wrinkles into the team’s systems down both ends of the ice.
It will be two-plus weeks of tinkering, experimenting and deliberating when it comes to identifying the best personnel to slot into the Bruins' lineup — with offseason surgeries for Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk opening the door for more players to vie for significant minutes in the early going, while vacancies in the bottom-six group should present an avenue for younger players to try and make their mark.
“The message was about the opportunity,” Montgomery said of his first address to the team. “And that was echoed by Cam and Sweeens as well, about the opportunity on the back end with two guys injured and with Marchy out, the opportunities are there, which everybody looks for in camp. And then I talked specifically about being prepared and being on time. That we have a lot of people here to help. So ask questions, we're in it together. And then the last thing we're looking on the ice for is effort and execution.”
Montgomery and Co. will have a tall task in front of them when it comes to whittling down that extensive roster and finding the right pieces that fit both up front and on the blue line. So what exactly is the B’s new coach looking for as camp finally gets underway?
Blending young and old
With veterans like Nick Foligno, Tomas Nosek, Craig Smith and Charlie Coyle presumably penciled into the lineup to open camp, it’d be easy to assume that the large pool of youngsters such as Fabian Lysell, Marc McLaughlin, Oskar Steen, Jack Studnicka, Johnny Beecher and others don’t necessarily have a lot of opportunities to make their case for NHL reps.
But Montgomery plans on keeping an open mind when it comes to his lineup construction, especially out of the gate — sprinkling in those younger players throughout various segments of the depth chart both up front and on defense.
Even if these lineup tweaks aren’t measures that might be set in stone come mid-October, giving an uber-skilled winger like Lysell some reps in the top-six grouping or giving a player like Beecher the keys to the 4C spot for a few scrimmages doesn’t just stand as a way for Boston’s coaching staff to evaluate younger talent when surrounded by established players. It also offers a chance for these prospects to rub elbows with Boston’s veteran core on and off the ice, which stands as an easy way to cultivate development beyond just outright games played.
“What we're doing the first couple of days of camp is we're mixing in a lot of vets with younger players. Kind of like what Zdeno talked about yesterday — what the culture is here, how to work, the accountability, the compete that we're looking for from everyone.
“And I think if you get the opportunity to be on the same line as a Charlie Coyle, or you get to be in a D pairing with Brandon Carlo, you get an opportunity with those kinds of guys that have been Bruins for a while, this is the way we go about our business is the way we compete, this is the way we do things. We do it right.”
Even though Montgomery acknowledged that the B’s top D pair on Opening Night will most likely be Hampus Lindholm and Carlo, he expects both vets to also earn plenty of minutes with prospects during camp.
"Out of the gate, we're going to have them paired with young guys,” Montgomery said of Lindholm and Carlo. “So that, again, it goes back to that philosophy of bringing people along about how we do things here. And then once the season starts, that's the expectation until Matt gets back and then we'll see how things go from there.”
Not jumping the gun with chemistry
Montgomery has the luxury of not having to fret all that much about how certain lines and pairings will gel this season — especially once Marchand returns to his usual perch on the top line next to Patrice Bergeron.
Still, for as much as Montgomery has already tipped his hand in some regards when it comes to his plans of rolling with the likes of Zacha-Bergeron-DeBrusk / Hall-Krejci-Pastrnak in Boston’s top-six unit to open camp — he’s also going to be mixing and matching personnel throughout the next couple of weeks.
"It's too early,” Montgomery said when asked if a third-line configuration of Coyle, Smith and Trent Frederic will stick together this fall. “Again, I'm going into this open-minded. The players don't know me and I really don't know them. I want to see what the players can do. So I don't want to start slotting people in certain spots already because they might exceed expectations and be on the second line instead of the third or they might not be ready for the third line and be on the fourth line and I'm not talking specifically about the names you just said. I'm talking about everybody in general.”
The third line continues to roll along.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) March 19, 2022
Trent Frederic tucks one home.
2-0 Bruins. pic.twitter.com/htJ5EHac3y
Of course, the easiest way for certain groupings and line combinations to remain intact is for players to string together strong performances during scrimmages and preseason action. But even if, say, the Frederic-Coyle-Smith line puts together a three-point showing as a unit next week against the Rangers, Montgomery offered restraint when it comes to definitively penciling players into the regular-season lineup.
“Different players start camp off really well," Montgomery said. "So you might think there's chemistry and might actually mask the fact that someone has started off and done more in the summer to be better prepared. So it's always for me — chemistry with lines, there's a moving target. You know that Bergy and Marchy are going to have chemistry.
“Who's the perfect fit to be with them, right? We're hoping that it's (DeBrusk), so that we have the opportunity for Pasta and Krech to play together as a duo and Taylor Hall riding shotgun with them. But if things aren't working, you'll see I'll juggle lines, and I'll juggle lines daily. And within games, too, if things aren't working to give us the best opportunity and success."
Montgomery added: “We're looking for the best players to make the Bruins the best from day one. So I do think there's enough opportunity, especially with the way we have structured camp with enough situational scrimmage time for players to show us if they deserve an opportunity in exhibition games and or moving forward deeper in the camp and the opportunity to start with the Bruins."
Situational hockey on the blue line
Montgomery’s comments when it comes to shuffling the lines and defensive pairings will make this next point of emphasis rather obvious, but it does seem as though Boston’s new coach is willing to be flexible when it comes to augmenting his personnel to fit certain situations in a game setting.
When healthy, the Bruins under Bruce Cassidy tended to stick with the same tried-and-true duos on the blue line, only switching things up if a particular pairing was taking on water in Boston’s end of the ice.
But Montgomery expressed hope that Boston’s lineup could be more malleable when it comes to the opposition matched up against them — with Montgomery having the freedom to perhaps roll out two “shutdown” options on the same pairing in order to subdue a team anchored by a dominant top line.
"Some of it will be situational to who we're playing,” Montgomery explained. “If we're playing a one-line team, maybe you have your top two playing together against them or maybe you're freeing them up to play against with an offensive line against someone else.
“You let the second duo handle that top line. If you're playing a team like Edmonton and you got McDavid and Draisaitl, you might split up your top two. I think there's gonna be times you'll see Lindholm and Mac when he's healthy again playing together a lot, and there will be times when they're separated. And I'd be because we think that gives us the best opportunity to win."
As for early roles on this roster, it does seem like Jakub Zboril will be the first man up when it comes to the left-shot D that will be asked to slot over to the right side in order to account for McAvoy’s absence.
"We'll probably give everybody a different opportunity during camp. I think day one, we're starting with Jakub Zboril in that opportunity," Montgomery said. "But we feel that Zboril/Reilly, those two in particular have the ability to play the offside, as well as Grizzy when he gets back. So we're not too concerned about not having three righties.”