Photo: WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Boston Bruins have made a massive change behind the bench.
On Tuesday, the Bruins announced that they fired head coach Jim Montgomery, who was in the final year of his three-year contract. Assistant coach Joe Sacco will take the reigns as the interim coach, while the team searches for Montgomery’s replacement.
In a statement, Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney and President Cam Neely thanked Montgomery for his time with the team but also acknowledged that changes were necessary with a lackluster start to the season.
“Jim’s open and honest communication with players, staff and management, as well as the positive attitude that he brought to the rink every day, helped lead our franchise to several on-ice accolades, including a historic 65-win season in 2022-23,” said Neely in the statement.
“Our team’s inconsistency and performance in the first 20 games of the 2024-25 season has been concerning and below how the Bruins want to reward our fans. I believe Joe Sacco has the coaching experience to bring the players and the team back to focusing on the consistent effort the NHL requires to have success,” said Sweeney in the statement.
The Bruins won 120 out of 184 games while Montgomery was at the helm, which was one of the best head coaching records during that time. Despite the team’s regular season success in his first two years, they failed to make it past the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Sacco is no stranger to being behind the bench, serving as one of the Bruins’ assistant coaches since 2014. He is also from Melrose, Mass., and went to Boston University before playing in the National Hockey League for 13 seasons.
Sacco has very little time to get settled in with the Bruins taking on the Utah Hockey Club Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at TD Garden.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Jim MacKay (@JimMacKayOnAir) reports.
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