Right in time for the Fourth of July long weekend, the Bruins finally figured out who their new head coach will be for this upcoming season: former University of Maine star Jim Montgomery is here on a three-year deal worth around two million dollars per year. Most recently, the man that they call Monty (because everyone in hockey has to have a goofy nickname) was an assistant with the Blues and before that, he was the head coach of the Stars from 2018-20. Unlike the other rumored candidates that the B's had considered-namely David Quinn, Jay Leach and something called Mike Vellucci-Montgomery feels like the best choice to be the Bruins head coach for a couple of reasons.
While he wasn't a star by any means, Montgomery played in the NHL for 122 games on five different teams (Blues, Canadiens, Flyers, Sharks and Stars) after being undrafted following a great career at Maine capped off by an NCAA title in 1993 playing with Black Bears legend Paul Kariya. He was a pro hockey player for 14 seasons as he also competed in 451 AHL games. This means that he knows what it takes to grind and make it at the highest level. Additionally, he was a very successful college head coach from 2013-2017 at the University of Denver where he helped the Pioneers win an NCAA title in 2017.
He has only been an NHL head coach for less than a season and a half because after leading Dallas to the second round of the playoffs in his first year, he was fired after 31 games the next season because of a serious drinking problem that forced him to go to rehab and reevaluate his entire life. In terms of life-changing experiences, I would imagine that it doesn't get much more real than that so I'm hoping that he would be able to relate to his players on a much deeper level than most other coaches that they've ever encountered in pro hockey. In 113 games in charge of the Stars, he went 60-43-10 and then 7-6 in the playoffs.
Jim will have big shoes to fill since the previous Bruins head coach-Bruce Cassidy-quickly became one of the best in the NHL. There is still a good (albeit aging) nucleus in Boston: center Patrice Bergeron, left wing Brad Marchand, right wing David Pastrnak, defenseman Charlie McAvoy and goaltender Jeremy Swayman should ensure that even though it feels like they are rebuilding, the black and gold should still be in the postseason in 2022-23. The early word is that his players love Montgomery so perhaps he has a bit of a softer personality than Cassidy who was very open in his criticism of his team and players. The only thing about Jim that is hard to look past is that he's from Montreal originally but I guess that we won't hold them against him. Haha after all, nobody's perfect.
