In a lot of ways, the Boston Bruins exceeded expectations in the 2023-24 campaign. Despite a mass exodus of talent, headlined by star center Patrice Bergeron, the team put together another strong body of work in the regular season that saw them make it to the postseason. Once there, they barely avoided throwing away a 3-1 lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs, before they ultimately lost to the Florida Panthers in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
After the team brought in a pair of big-name free agents in Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, while also signing goalie Jeremy Swayman to a huge contract extension, there was reason to believe Boston would take a step forward this season. Instead, they have flopped out of the gate, posting an 8-9-3 record through their first 20 games, with their latest 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets being the loss that resulted in head coach Jim Montgomery getting fired.
Whenever you fail to meet expectations in the way the B’s have, changes need to be made, and with no contract in place for next season, Montgomery tried everything he could to get Boston on track. It didn’t work, though, and it became clear that the team needed to make a change. Firing Montgomery was inevitable, but that alone is not going to fix all the problems this team is dealing with.
Firing Jim Montgomery isn’t going to fix all of the Bruins problems
During Montgomery’s time with the Bruins, he leaned heavily on the team’s defense and goaltending to make up for their lack of offensive firepower. Boston invited pressure before rushing out of their own zone on the break, where they capitalized on their scoring chances. They weren’t racking up 35 shots on goal per night, but it didn’t matter, because they were still creating high-danger scoring opportunities.
This season, the B’s have been a shell of the team they were in the past two seasons with Montgomery in charge. They are struggling to prevent their opponents from scoring, and their quality over quantity mantra on offense has completely disappeared. Boston is panicking on both sides of the ice, and Montgomery could not figure out how to fix their problems.
You have to give Montgomery credit for trying, as he reamed out Brad Marchand on the bench earlier this season, benched David Pastrnak late in another game, and has constantly been switching lines in order to try and find a spark. Ultimately, his message wasn’t getting through the team, so now the team is hoping interim head coach Joe Sacco will be able to get this team back on track.
Could Sacco be the missing piece of the puzzle in Boston? Potentially, and it is worth noting that the Edmonton Oilers went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final last season after they fired Jay Woodcroft early on in the year and replaced him with Kris Knoblauch. In a perfect world, Sacco makes a similar sort of impact for Boston.
The problem is that the issues run deeper than Montgomery. The Bruins don’t have their top-tier goalie duo of Swayman and Linus Ullmark to bail their team out anymore, which is probably their biggest issue. Beyond that, Swayman has been awful, allowing 3.47 goals per game, which has forced his new backup, Joonas Korpisalo, into action more often, as he’s allowing just 2.74 goals per game.
After holding out for the offseason, Swayman has looked rusty, and while it’s concerning to see him struggle, he will figure things out in due time. For now, though, the B’s defense needs to be more aggressive in preventing their opponents from shooting the puck. Whereas allowing low-danger shots wasn’t really an issue in the past, it’s the primary issue that this team is dealing with right now.
Sure, they are shorthanded on the blue line, with Hampus Lindholm and Andrew Peeke currently dealing with injuries, but Charlie McAvoy, Zadorov, and Brandon Carlo are still skating, and they need to play better in order for this team to turn things around. Sacco is largely credited with being the mastermind behind Boston’s penalty kill, so he should be able to ensure this team can play better on defense in five-on-five situations.
Offensively, Boston’s lack of goal-scoring talent has never been more evident. They should be scoring more, but ultimately, this is another bad look for general manager Don Sweeney, who somehow is invincible from punishment, despite how poorly this team has played. If they continue to struggle with Montgomery gone, serious conversations need to be had regarding Sweeney’s future with the team.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and while it’s still early in the season, the Bruins need to get going, and fast. Getting rid of Montgomery clearly had to happen, but unless other changes are made, this will amount to nothing more than a stop-gap move. Boston is on thin ice just 20 games into the season, and if they can’t turn things around soon, bigger changes will need to be made in the future.
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