Well, the Bruins search for a new head coach is over at last. Former Dallas Stars head coach Jim Montgomery was announced to be the Bruins’ next head coach, though he will be working with scraps to start.
The Boston Bruins are a shell of themselves. With Charlie McAvoy, Brad Marchand, and Matt Grzelcyk all set to miss at least the next five months, that leaves the Bruins bereft of leadership and talent. Add Patrice Bergeron still not decided about coming back and you’ve got yourself a team that has no 1st or 2nd-line center, two of its Top-4 defensemen are injured, their best winger is out for six months, and their best goal scorer is on the last year of his contract.
Did I forget to mention that the Bruins currently have just $2.38M in cap space. Yes, the Bruins only have $2.38M to resign reigning Selke winner Patrice Bergeron, Josh Brown, Curtis Lazar, add a 2nd-line center, and save space for David Pastrnak’s eventual raise. Yeah, not much to work with.
But that is just half the story. The other half is that Bergeron is 36, Marchand is 34, and the Bruins have traded their 1st-round pick this year. So, not only is the Bruins’ core practically ready to retire, but they have traded away numerous 1st-round selections on failed Stanley Cup runs. With Cam Neely and Don Sweeny still in charge, I fear the Bruins are heading towards disaster.
More specifically, a Detroit Red Wings-style disaster. A “trade away your entire future for the illusion that your ageing, rapidly declining core can get one last cup ring, even though their last chance was really three years ago” kind of disaster.
To be honest, I’m not doubting Jim Montgomery. He is a good coach.
He led the Dallas Stars to a 43-win season back in the 2018/19 season, where they were eventually knocked out by the soon-to-be Stanley Cup Champions St. Louis Blues in the Second Round. And the Stars made it all the way to Stanley Cup Finals themselves the year after, though not with Montgomery behind the bench. His personal struggles (which I won’t get into here) got in the way of his promising coaching career.
Thankfully, Montgomery was able to overcome his struggles and rejoin a coaching team two years ago. Funnily enough, it was the St. Louis Blues who hired him to revamp their decrypted, post-Stanley Cup winning powerplay and offense.
And, to his credit, he did. The Blues were the 3rd best team in the NHL this season in Goals Per Game (PGP) with 3.77, 2nd in Powerplay Goals with 65, and 2nd in Powerplay Percentage at 26.97%.
For comparison, Boston was 15th (3.07) in GPG, 16th (50) in PPG, and 15th (21.19) in PP%. Clearly, Montgomery brings an astute offensive mind with him.
I believe Montgomery will be a success when it comes to the Bruins offense and powerplay, though I’m very hesitant to predict he will be an overall success. Losing Cassidy really hurts the Bruins’ defensive prowess, while a thread-bare roster will hamper any chance of Montgomery leading the Bruins to playoff glory.
With NHL Free Agency and the Draft only a few days away, and teams like the Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders, and the Columbus Blue Jackets all gearing up and clearing cap space to bolster their rosters, I’m having a hard time believing that Boston will be able to overcome their injuries and make the playoffs in Montgomery’s first year in charge.
I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I will be come April 2023.
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