Jim Montgomery's Bruins tenure leaves feelings that transcend hockey

BOSTON Its not unusual for newly named coaches to dedicate a slice of the introductory news conference to saying nice things about the old coach.

Its just that Joe Sacco, who met with the media on Wednesday after being named interim coach of the Boston Bruins following the dismissal of Jim Montgomery, was barely in the room when he began rolling out a testimonial dedicated to his predecessor.

Advertisement I want to start out by saying its been a tough 24 hours for myself and for the staff, Sacco said.

We obviously lost a real good coach in Jim, and even a better person.

Its worth noting that Sacco grew up in Medford, Mass., a couple of miles up I-93 from TD Garden.

This would make coaching the Bruins a textbook dream job, as Sacco himself more or less acknowledged when he said, Im excited for the opportunity, Im not going to lie.

But even then, he referred to his sudden ascendancy as bittersweet.

And while Saccos words were neither intimidating nor laced with piety, the manner in which the new coach clasped the lectern with both hands, the way he moved his head left and right in such a way as to make eye contact with everyone in the room, suggests his remarks about Montgomery were sincere.

I like to think many Bruins fans, upset though theyve been with the teams poor play this season, have feelings about Montgomery that are along the lines of what Sacco said.

To take it a step further, I believe many Bruins fans were flat-out rooting for the guy.

Montgomery is a recovering alcoholic, which was made known after he lost his previous head coach job with the Dallas Stars .

This didnt stop the Bruins from reaching out to him after Bruce Cassidy was fired, the result being a July 1, 2022 presser at TD Garden to introduce Montgomery.

There was no dancing around the alcohol issue, either by management or Montgomery.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney, speaking at the 2022 news conference, disclosed that the team .

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talked to an awful lot of people and we felt very comfortable moving forward in terms of the lifelong pursuit that he now has and the family support he has and the sponsors he has in place.

Montgomery was more direct that day.

For me, in my life, sobriety, family and hockey are the three most important things now, he said.

Advertisement Lets be clear about this: Fans rarely root for coaches other than on a transactional basis.

When the team does well, the coach is popular.

When the team does not play well, the coachs future is a fair discussion.

But it was different with Montgomery, because it was so easy to identify with the man.

Practically everybody has had brushes with alcoholism, either through their own struggles or those of a family member or close friend; because of that reality, its reasonable that for a lot of fans it was inspiring to watch Montgomerys successes as coach of the Bruins.

This was especially true during Montgomerys first season behind the bench, with the 2022-23 Bruins setting league records for victories (65) and points (135).

But those 2022-23 Bruins turned out to be a colossal tease, getting shown the door in the first round by the Florida Panthers .

And then the 2023-24 Bruins racked up 109 points.

They got past the Toronto Maple Leafs in a seven-game opening-round playoff series, setting up a rematch with Florida.

The Panthers won again, en route to winning the Stanley Cup.

This years Bruins have been an all-phases-of-the-game disappointment.

There are always slices of blame pie to be handed out when teams with lofty expectations fall flat, and yes, we can point to Sweeney and two offseason acquisitions Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov that havent paid dividends so far.

And come on, did the Jeremy Swayman soap opera need to play out as long as it did before the goaltender re-upped with the Bruins? GO DEEPER Bruins' Don Sweeney on Jim Montgomery firing: 'Had to change course' We can go on and on with Sweeney, but heres where it gets real: Except for occasional bursts of energy, the 2024-25 Bruins have been dull, listless.

They began the season as the seventh-youngest team in the NHL , according to this story from The Athletic s James Mirtle, and yet theyve looked frightfully old at times.

Advertisement When things like that happen, its usually the coach who goes.

Were 20 games in and you might think its a small sample size, but I just didnt like the direction, Sweeney said on Wednesday.

We had had a small incremental bump in terms of going to play the right way .

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but we couldnt maintain it.

Even in the course of games we couldnt maintain it.

Asked if Montgomery had lost the room, Sweeney said, No.

You cant say that Monty came in and made a positive connection with players for two-plus seasons and then turn around and say they just tuned him out.

But either because of Montgomery or in spite of him, the Bruins have, in fact, largely tuned out this season.

And its small solace that so many Bruins players are now saying its all their fault, that this was avoidable.

As David Pastrnak put it on Wednesday, As players, its a tough day.

You always feel a big part of guilt.

Monty is a heck of a coach.

GO DEEPER We werent getting it done: Bruins stars take the blame for Montgomery's firing Only now hes a heck of an unemployed coach.

And thats the way its worked in professional sports for more than a century: When a team underperforms, its often the coach or manager who gets moved out.

But if you rooted for Jim Montgomery on the day he was hired, its OK to root for him now.

He lost a job this week, but in two-plus seasons behind the Bruins bench, he saved his career.

(Top photo: Len Redkoles / NHLI via Getty Images).

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