It is a crucial time for the Bruins. Is Marco Sturm the leader they need behind the bench? We'll see.

Boston Globe

2 days ago

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Generally, it's a league tough on such newbies. Then again, we give you Kris Knoblauch, who has his Oilers in a second straight Stanley Cup Final since being hired roughly a month into last season. Like Sturm, he ascended to the job right out of the AHL.
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Wild assumption here: If Sturm has his Black and Gold charges in the Cup Final for a second straight time in June 2027, I'll bet Bruins fans will be kind of OK with it. Though they are tough to please. I'll also bet Sturm would have a better shot at such success if the Oilers this summer deal Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid to Causeway Street.
In the category of weird and meaningless coincidences: Sturm and Knoblauch were born 16 days apart in September 1978.
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We do know Sweeney, much to his credit, has a sparkling track record for identifying the right guy at the right time for his team. He proved that with his hires of Bruce Cassidy and Jim Montgomery. He did so again with his interim appointment of Joe Sacco this past season. All three had NHL head coaching experience on their CVs.
So hammer Sweeney all you want about his club's lack of playoff success, post-June 2019, including this year's DNQ, the first since 2016. Hammer away also on his club's record in the draft and in his costly misfires in the free agent market. But he has been at the top of his managerial game at the trade deadline — particularly this March as a seller — and in selecting who calls the shots behind his bench.
Sweeney, in the club's press release, detailed that he wanted a coach who could maintain defensive structure (long a club trademark) and wring out more offense, someone who is a strong, respected communicator and able to connect with young talent.
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He's convinced that coach is Sturm, and based on Sweeney's banked equity in making these picks, that's good enough for now. We can at least give the new coach the season opener, right? Hello?
It remains a mystery why Sweeney had all of that in Cassidy, all of that in spades, then abruptly sent him packing following the 2021-22 season. It's commonly held that a number of the younger players found Cassidy's truth-telling a little too close to their fragile bones, a complaint that was nearly nonexistent here in the Montgomery era. Not a peep of that came up either the following June, when Cassidy led Vegas to its Cup title.
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In the end,
Established and effective pros tend to carry their games through no matter what the noise or flavor of the month behind the bench. That is often not true of those kids, and it is increasingly a kids' game.
Sturm began coaching in 2018, five years after playing his last game as a pro (in Cologne, Germany), as an assistant with the Kings. He held that job for four seasons, one with John Stevens as bench boss, three with Todd McLellan, then segued to head coach in Ontario (Calif.), the Kings' AHL affiliate.
The Reign enjoyed solid regular-season success, yet won only one of four playoff rounds, across his three seasons. Keep in mind, it's far more about development than W's in the AHL. Sturm's success there ultimately will be determined by how many of the prospects eventually become NHL regulars.
During his own 938-game playing career, Sturm never made it beyond Round 2 in the Cup playoffs. Known in his Boston playing days as 'The German,' he was a fast, smart, and responsible center/wing who reached a career high of 55 points in 2007-08. His brand was emotion and intelligence, qualities that caught the Sharks' eye when they made him the 21st pick in the 1996 draft. He was considered the key acquisition in the notorious November 2005 swap in which the Bruins sent Jumbo Joe Thornton to San Jose.
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Now Sturm is back in the Hub of Hockey, a known face whose coaching style and acumen won't be unveiled until the Bruins go live again in October. If they play like he played, the 2025-26 Bruins will be up-tempo, smart, and responsible in all three zones. Goaltending, well, that depends a lot on how all that speed, intelligence, and responsibility plays out around the cage manned by Jeremy Swayman and, presumably, Joonas Korpisalo.
It is a crucial time for the Black and Gold, a franchise in retool mode and within a brick or two of a rebuild. The coach is just the on-site construction manager. Team president Cam Neely and GM Sweeney are the architects.
If they've chosen the right guy in Sturm, the Bruins are back on course. If not, then it all falls down, taking Neely and Sweeney with it.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at