The Boston Bruins hired Marco Sturm as head coach on Thursday to help the Original Six franchise get back to the playoffs after missing them for the first time since 2016.
The Bruins picked Sturm to replace interim bench boss Joe Sacco, who took over from Jim Montgomery in November and led the team to a 25-30-7 record — much of it after a trade deadline roster purge. Sturm becomes the 30th head coach in Bruins history after spending the past three seasons as head coach of the American Hockey League’s Ontario Reign.
Sacco, a Bruins assistant and former Avalanche head coach, replaced Montgomery 20 games into this season, but with the team unable to challenge for a playoff berth general manager Don Sweeney traded away captain Brad Marchand and other veterans, and the Bruins stumbled to a 33-39-10 record overall, tied for the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
Only three teams in the league were worse.
CEO Charlie Jacobs said the results were “absolutely unacceptable” and apologized to the fans for the performance.
“We owe you a better team, and we aim to deliver a better team,” he said after the season. “I share your disappointment and, frankly, embarrassment on how poorly things played out over the course of this season.”
Sturm, who was a Bruins forward from 2005-2010, is a former head coach and general manager for the German national team and spent five seasons as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings.
Sturm’s Ontario Reign team went 119-80-11-6 and made three consecutive playoff appearances.
As a player, Sturm skated in 938 NHL regular-season games with Boston, Florida, Vancouver, Los Angeles and San Jose — the team the drafted him in the first round in 1996 — from 1997-2012. He recorded 242 career goals and 245 assists with a with a plus-59 rating.
Sacco was a candidate for the permanent job. Others who reportedly received consideration were Washington Capitals assistant Mitch Love, former Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson and Bruins assistant Jay Leach.
Montgomery, 55, was 120-41-23 in two-plus seasons in Boston. The Bruins finished with more than 100 points in each of his first two years, including a record-setting debut, when their 65 wins and 135 points were both the most in NHL history.
But the team lost in the first round of the playoffs that season and advanced to only the second round last year. The struggles carried over into the new season, when Boston began 8-9-3 and Montgomery was fired. He was hired five days later by the St. Louis Blues and was given a five-year contract; the Blues reached the playoffs and lost in the first round in seven games to the Winnipeg Jets.
Boston never improved under Sacco.
Heading into the trade deadline with a three-game losing streak that left them at 28-28, the Bruins traded Marchand ³ the only remaining member of their 2011 Stanley Cup championship team — along with forwards Justin Brazeau, Marc McLaughlin, Trent Frederic and Charlie Coyle and defenseman Brandon Carlo to Toronto.
And they left Sacco on the bench to ride it out.
The depleted roster lost 10 straight games, the team lost only 12 in its record-setting 2022-23 season under Montgomery, and fell from possible playoff contender to the NHL draft lottery.
Despite the disappointment, the Bruins signed Sweeney to a two-year contract extension, with team president Can Neely saying it would help to have stability in the front office during the coaching search.
“I am confident in the plan he has followed these past few months, and excited for what’s to come for our team,” the former Bruins forward said of the former Bruins defenceman. “The expectations in Boston have always been clear. It’s about winning championships.”
