One of the more intriguing storylines from this summer has almost nothing to do with the players that will make up the Boston Bruins roster this season.
Headed into the 2024-25 NHL season, Jim Montgomery will enter his third season behind the B’s bench after guiding them to a very impressive 112-32-30 record, including an NHL-record 132 points in his first season. Despite the regular season accomplishments, however, the Bruins have only one playoff series win over the Maple Leafs to show for it while falling to the Florida Panthers in back-to-back postseasons.
It's widely believed that Montgomery is entering the final year of a three-year contract with the Bruins this coming season, which sets up a really interesting situation if he doesn’t warrant a contract extension prior to the start of the regular season. Publicly, Don Sweeney has been supportive of the job that Montgomery has done while also readily admitting bitter disappointment that the B’s couldn’t at the very least squeeze Florida to a seventh game in their second round series.
“Jim [Montgomery] is a strong, strong communicator. When you're adding the players that we did and coming in, and having a new captain, I think one of his strengths is his coaching ability to unite players of that sort, clearly identify the areas that we're looking for our group to carry forward that top possession, the ability to generate [offense], the ability to break out and continue hammering all of those ideals and structure,” said Sweeney. “Playing with good structure, I think that's a really fundamental part of what we try to do as an organization is bring players in here that fit into that, but can push us forward.
“In several instances, Kevin Shattenkirk, for all the right reasons we brought him in, our power play went dormant for a little bit, he steps into that role, he stepped up, as our players acknowledged, in a leadership fashion in game seven and before game seven to talk about his experiences. JVR [James van Riemsdyk] and Danton Heinen playing roles that Monty [Jim Montgomery] gave them the confidence to play in. But it's also allowing the younger players to hopefully feel like they're not boxed up and get an opportunity to make the team. They might have some setbacks, and communication is a big part of the re-addressing of those needs, and Johnny Beecher went through that this year. It's the strength of our staff overall, Jim needs that to clearly identify where the roles are and where our needs are as a group. I think communication is a big part of that.”
There are a bevy of Montgomery accomplishments to be listed off for a B’s bench boss who’s produced results in the regular season, and arguably did an even better job of coaching this past season when he had a salary cap-strapped team grappling with the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. Montgomery challenged his team more and even had moments where he bag-skated them to get the undivided attention of his players during the long regular season. In essence, Montgomery was even better this past season than he was in the yar when he'd won the Jack Adams Award.
David Pastrnak has enjoyed his best and most productive offensive seasons under Montgomery and his team-building offensive system is one that the players enjoy. None of that even counts how rookies Beecher, Mason Lohrei and Matt Poitras all broke in last season on Montgomery’s watch where he successfully navigated the up-and-down developmental challenges introducing young players at the NHL level.
Montgomery himself is bullish on next season with Brad Marchand as a B’s captain who now has a year of leadership under his belt.
“What excites me about the potential of next year is the growth, the experience that our captain, Brad Marchand, is going to have to grow as a captain because he made it his team,” said Montgomery. “And having all summer to build relationships with his core leaders. I think he's going to only make us better, and he will continue to grow in that capacity.
“The many players that establish themselves as core pieces and or becoming Bruins and the potential growth that they have within their roles and their individual growth, to help the Bruins be better, and the opportunity ahead of us.”
But on the other side, there are clearly things that could be better given that the Bruins haven’t been able to play their best hockey in the playoffs. Two postseasons ago they disappointed terribly with a loaded team that couldn’t get past the Panthers in the first round, and last spring they averaged a paltry 2.38 goals per game in the Stanley Cup playoffs while failing to advance with Jeremy Swayman performing as the hottest goalie in the postseason.
Worse than that, there were some self-inflicted wounds including committing an NHL-record seven too many men on the ice penalties in the postseason despite not making it out of the second round. Pretty much every other NHL teams on that infamous postseason list had played four rounds of the postseason illustrating how much of a problem it was for the Bruins coaching staff.
Historic postseason from the Boston Bruins, who now have an NHL record SEVEN too many men penalties in the playoffs 🫠
— Katie Nolan (probably) (@katienolan) May 18, 2024
Some of that is on the players, to be sure, but how much of that is chalked up to a B’s bench that constantly tinkers with player line combinations and matchups to the point where there’s a whiff of uncertainty who’s going out on the ice in certain situations.
“Seven [too many men on the ice penalties] is a lot, no question. You got to kill off 14 minutes of penalties that you shouldn't be taking,” said Cam Neely. “One or two you can understand, but there’s clearly some miscommunication, whether it’s players not prepared to jump or jump too early.
“Guys come to the bench and then not getting on the bench. I think there was one, in particular, where [Brandon] Carlo came out of the penalty box, so I think a defenseman thought it was his change cause Brandon was a defenseman. But I think it was a forward that needed to go. There are different reasons why it happens, but seven is way too many to have happen, there’s no question about it.”
Worse still, the Bruins hold a 3-8 record on home TD Garden ice in two postseasons under Montgomery, including a brutal 1-6 record against Florida in home games during those two playoff series.
The Bruins invested heavily into the roster this offseason to the tune of almost $75 million for the free agent contracts of Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, and they undoubtedly want to see a satisfying return on that investment. It could all set up for a very interesting beginning to this upcoming regular season, particularly after the changes on the B’s coaching staff where longtime assistant Joe Sacco was made associate head coach and Jay Leach was hired on to the staff after he was a coach considered for the vacant head coaching job a couple of years ago prior to Montgomery ultimately getting hired.
The last time the Bruins had a dynamic like that on their coaching staff was Claude Julien’s final season behind the Boston bench when Bruce Cassidy was brought on board as an assistant on his staff. Is that coincidence or perhaps a pattern we’re seeing from Bruins management as they begin to wonder if a change behind the bench might be in order to get this Boston group over the hump in the postseason?
Time will tell, of course, but the other side of the coin is whether the Bruins could be creating a problem if they don’t reward a head coach with a new contract after he’s coaxed excellent performances in the last two regular seasons, and last season in particular when salary cap difficulties dropped their overall talent level and depth within a highly competitive Atlantic Division.