Bruins GM Don Sweeney got his coach. Now he needs to get some players

New York Times

12 hours ago

Coaches matter. Consider the progress the Boston Bruins made in 2022-23 when Jim Montgomery took over from Bruce Cassidy. Players like Trent Frederic and Brandon Carlo, laid low by Cassidy's grinding approach, felt like they could fly with Montgomery's positivity giving them updraft.
With Montgomery insisting on smiles and encouraging his players to attack at every turn, the Bruins exploded from 107 points in 2021-22 to a record-setting 135 in 2022-23. The 2023 Jack Adams Award winner impacted performance on multiple levels, from uplifting his charges to incorporating strategies such as activating the weakside defenseman and emphasizing chance quality over quantity.
Advertisement
The Bruins believe they have hired another difference-making coach. They could be right.
Marco Sturm was a playoff coach for the past three seasons for the AHL's Ontario Reign. The ex-Bruins winger understands what it means to pull on his new employer's jersey. Like Montgomery, Sturm is a glass-half-full personality, quick with a smile and an arm around the shoulder.
'He's got a good way about him. He really does,' Reign general manager Rich Seeley said. 'I'm really excited for him in this opportunity. I think he'll do well.'
But let's be real. Three years ago, general manager Don Sweeney handed Montgomery a full deck: Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci as the top two centers, Jake DeBrusk as a top-six wing, Taylor Hall as the No. 3 left wing, Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman sharing time in net. Sweeney supplied Montgomery with even more prizes at the trade deadline: Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway and Tyler Bertuzzi.
You cannot compare the stacks Montgomery had to work with to the pennies jangling in Sturm's pocket. As of now, Sturm counts just five forwards under contract for his first season: David Pastrnak, Elias Lindholm, Casey Mittelstadt, Pavel Zacha and Mark Kastelic. It's a start. But nowhere near any coach's satisfaction.
It should give Sturm comfort that on the back end, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, Andrew Peeke and Mason Lohrei are returning, although the latter requires an extension. Sturm may have been a forward, but seven years of working for the Kings left him with an appreciation for defense. There is no other choice when black, white and silver are the team colors. Sturm stood atop a structure designed by Terry Murray, Darryl Sutter, John Stevens and Todd McLellan. If you don't check, you don't play.
With that degree of defensive commitment in his coaching bones, Sturm will be pleased to have an alpha dog in McAvoy and a supporting cast eager for redemption. Sweeney thought highly enough of assistant coach Jay Leach, who oversaw the defense in 2024-25, to consider him a finalist for the head job. If Leach is retained, Sturm should have a credible foundation upon which he can build.
Team defense, though, is only as good as its goaltending. It was not good enough last year. If Swayman plays more like he did in 2024-25 than he did in 2023-24 or at last month's World Championship, nothing Sturm designs in front of him will matter.
One of Sturm's first chores, then, is to connect with Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo to make sure both are in the right frame of mind for the task at hand. Personal connection is one of Sturm's strengths.
'You feel trust,' Reign forward Jeff Malott said. 'You know that when things are being addressed, it's coming from a place of emphasizing development.'
Advertisement
Sturm has four months to install his 2025-26 game plan. His workload, however, will be light compared to that of his boss. It will not matter how stout Sturm's philosophy is and how well he sells it to his players and staff. He needs legitimate NHLers to carry out his vision. That is up to Sweeney.
The GM's first priority is to button up his team's draft list at the NHL Scouting Combine, which concludes Saturday in Buffalo with fitness testing. Sweeney and his amateur staff cannot afford a miss with the No. 7 pick, even if the teenager they select will not be part of Sturm's first lineup. The tank that Sweeney indirectly asked interim coach Joe Sacco to execute with his stripped-down roster demands a sterling result.
Sweeney also has to lock up Morgan Geekie, who will become a restricted free agent on July 1. Geekie and Pastrnak became a flammable first-line partnership.
But the GM's heaviest lifting will come in free agency. It is the most viable mechanism Sweeney has to wield to give Sturm the roster he needs.
Pursuing Mitch Marner may be a fool's errand. Plugging multiple holes with second- and third-line reinforcements projects to be the more judicious manner in which to construct Pastrnak's support staff. This did not go as well as Sweeney expected last year when he invested $54.25 million in Zadorov and Lindholm. He cannot afford to repeat the miscalculation.
Sweeney initiated the teardown by firing Montgomery and selling off Carlo, Frederic, Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle and Justin Brazeau. He completed the next segment by hiring Sturm.
The most important moves are yet to come.