The Boston Bruins have started the NHL season far from their expectations. After consecutive years of disappointing exits in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Bruins seem to have run out of steam and are feeling blue. Head coach Jim Montgomery was fired, and team captain Brad Marchand delivered a strong message about how the news impacted the locker room.
Brad Marchand inherited the ‘C’ in Boston, following Patrice Bergeron’s retirement in the 2022-23 offseason and after news broke of Montgomery’s firing, Marchand would come to learn he’d be serving as captain under a new coach.
Marchand couldn’t help but feel in debt with the coach that named him captain for the first time in his career. As he has done often this season, Marchand sent a strong message to his teammates. Boston’s leader was visibly frustrated, as he broke silence on the decision to release Montgomery of his duties.
“Very disappointing day, and also very frustrating is this [is] a reflection of our play,” Marchand said. “And it was avoidable. That’s the tough part about this is that if we had done our job in here, he would still be around, so [we] feel terrible as a group, individually that we let a really good coach and a really good person down and the effect it has not just on him, but on his family. It’s a crappy day.”
Montgomery’s record-breaking feats
It’s a tough business. It may sound cliché, but it really is. Montgomery led the Bruins to a historic 2022-23 regular season. The Bruins finished the campaign with 135 points and 65 wins, both record-setting accolades. However, Boston was after Lord Stanley and he isn’t won during the regular season.
When Playoff hockey came around, the Bruins were on the losing side of one of the biggest upsets in NHL history, as they fell in the first round of Playoffs to wild card Florida Panthers. Boston led the series 3-1, and held the lead with a minute left in Game Seven.
Regardless, Montgomery was elected the Jack Adams Award winner, given to the best coach in the league.
The following season, Boston made the playoffs comfortably but fell in the Second Round, again to the Panthers. The seat started heating up for Montgomery and after an irregular start to the 2024-25 campaign, the Bruins front office decided it was time to move on from Jim.