Bruins fire coach Jim Montgomery, elevate Joe Sacco

BOSTON — With the team not just failing to meet expectations but utterly flailing in every category, Bruins’ management decided to go with the tried and true NHL remedy.

They fired the coach.

Mired with an 8-9-3 record after Monday’s 5-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, just the latest in a string of head-scratching defeats, GM Don Sweeney announced that Jim Montgomery was done behind the B’s bench. Taking his place will be associate coach Joe Sacco on an interim basis. It was first reported by WEEI.

“Today, I made a very difficult decision with regards to a coaching change. Jim Montgomery is a very good NHL coach and an even better person,” Sweeney said in statement. “He has made a positive impact throughout the Bruins organization, and I am both grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to work with him and learn from him. Jim’s accomplishments as the Bruins head coach include a record-breaking and historic season, and I want to thank his entire family and wish him, Emily, J.P., Colin, Ava and Olivia all the success and happiness with their next opportunity. 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. We will continue to work to make the necessary adjustments to meet the standard and performance our supportive fans expect.”

Montgomery gave the Bruins two excellent regular seasons, including a record-breaking 65-win season in his first year in 2022-23 for which he won the Jack Adams Award. Since he took over at the start of that season, the Bruins had the highest winning percentage in the league at .715 (120-41-23) But postseason success was elusive. The B’s were stunned in the first round by the Florida Panthers in 2023 and then lost again to the Panthers, the eventual Stanley Cup champs, in the second round last season. Montgomery was in the last year of a three-year contract. Sweeney said prior to the season that they were in negotiations for an extension but that never came to fruition. How much that hurt Montgomery’s standing is hard to know, but it couldn’t have helped.

Sacco, the Medford native and Boston University product who played 738 NHL games with five different clubs, has been on the staff since the Claude Julien days, taking on an assistant’s role in 2014-15. He was the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche for three-plus seasons before being dismissed in 2012-13.

Also on the B’s staff is former Providence Bruins head coach Jay Leach, who was hired as an assistant to run the defense last summer after a stint as an assistant with the expansion Seattle Kraken. Considered a bright hockey mind and possible NHL head coaching material by many, it would have certainly been difficult for this to be his first head coaching gig.

Montgomery took over for Bruce Cassidy, who then went on to win the Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights. Like Cassidy, Sacco is not only a mid-season replacement, but Cassidy, too, waited a long time — 14 years, in his case — to get a second shot at a head coaching job in the NHL. Cassidy made the most of his chance, taking what had been a moribund team in Julien’s 10th season and getting it into the playoffs. He later got all the way to Game 7 of the Cup finals in 2019 before losing on Garden ice. The B’s haven’t been as close since. We’ll see if Sacco and the B’s can capture that kind of lightning again.

Team president Cam Neely said in part in the team statement: “We wish Jim and his family the best moving forward both personally and professionally. I’m supportive of Don’s decision to address our current play and performance. Joe Sacco has a wealth of experience and knowledge of our roster and can help lead our team in the right direction. He has a strong understanding of our standards and expectations, and I trust he will do all he can to accomplish our organization’s goals this season.”

Coaches have been fired for less. With high expectations going into the season, the B’s are at or near the bottom of the league in offense (31st), defense (28th) and special teams (32nd on power play, 25th on penalty kill).

But there are concerns surrounding roster construction. Sweeney’ two big signings in the offseason – two-way center Elias Lindholm (7 x $7.75 million) and big defenseman Nikita Zadorov (6 x $5 million) – have not played particularly well. Meanwhile, some of the mainstay veterans and impact players like David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy have not performed up to their standards, either. Montgomery tried pushing all the buttons in his arsenal. He screamed at his captain, Marchand, on the bench. He benched superstar David Pastrnak. He scratched depth players. Finally, Sweeney decided he was out of buttons.

Now we’ll find out how much the coach was the issue and how much of this is on management.

Sweeney and Sacco will address reporters following the B’s 11 a.m. practice.