Bruins, Sweeney hold press conference post-Montgomery firing.
“You can’t stay in neutral.” – Don Sweeney
Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney addressed the media this afternoon, the day after Jim Montgomery had been relieved of his coaching duties with Joe Sacco serving as interim head coach.
The news broke on Tuesday, following the Bruins’ disastrous 5-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets the night before. While the firing has felt imminent for the last handful of games, it didn’t mean Montgomery was the sole reason for the team’s inconsistent and disheartened performance.
As the Bruins have touted themselves on accountability. At least from the players and Sacco, the accountability was there that everyone has been a part of the problem.
There’s a lot to digest, but here’s a few takeaways from what transpired today.
Blame
It’s all around.
At least the players, Don Sweeney and Joe Sacco acknowledged problems are multi-tiered in all areas of the Bruins’ game and throughout the “underperforming” roster.
Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy spoke to media after practice about the news. Marchand called it “avoidable” and a reflection of their performance.
Pastrnak echoed his sentiment, saying “We weren’t getting the job done and lost a great coach and an amazing human being.”
Montgomery
Sweeney voiced disappointment in the decision he had to make to fire Jim Montgomery.
“He’s going to be a good NHL coach, he is a good NHL coach, and I wish him well,” Sweeney said. “His family is a big part of his success and dynamic, and we’re going to wish them well in everything they do moving forward.”
Montgomery was in his last year of his coaching contract with the team. Sweeney added the Bruins had entered into contract extension talks, but “couldn’t find a deal.”
Standards not met
Sweeney said the decision came from the team not performing to the level of expectation that the organization has built itself around.
“I had to change course,” he said.
While 20 games is a small sample, he added there were small incremental bumps over the last stretch of games, but nothing was maintained. He didn’t like that the team couldn’t respond from one game to the next.
Sweeney said looking at the roster, there are about 10 players off their norms compared to a year ago which he felt was concerning.
But he added the issues are team-wide and all areas need to be better, even commenting on the ups and downs in net this season compared to last year.
“These guys are more than capable of playing, executing and performing, and that’s what we want to find out,” Sweeney said.” We want to find out what this team is capable of based on where we’re at right now. With 60 games to go, there’s a lot of season. But you can’t stay in neutral.”
And more changes could be on the horizon.
If Sweeney holds true to statements from his press conference, changes will come if things don’t begin to well, change on the ice.
“Moving forward, that rests with me now from a personnel standpoint and the players themselves, they have to understand that they’re not where they need to be,” Sweeney said. “We’re either going to get back there, or there’s going to be continued changes across the board.”
Special teams have been “well underwater”
Special teams have also faltered and have hurt the team on its 5v5 play by pressuring action. Sweeney talked about the Bruins undisciplined hockey which
“They’ve been a strong staple of our organization for a number of years and they’re well underwater,” Sweeney said about special teams.
Training camp “flatlined”
Sweeney felt it didn’t help that Marchand missed training camp or that Pastrnak didn’t have a great camp.
But overall, Sweeney said camp was “flatlined” across the board and was the first indication of trouble.
Sacco
As far as Joe Sacco goes, he’s the only one on Sweeney’s brain for the position at the moment.
“He’s well equipped to handle it,” Sweeney said about Sacco. “And the staff will be as it is for right now.”
The GM didn’t rule out bringing on board, however, another assistant coach who would complement Sacco’s direct and simplistic coaching style.
Sacco himself said it’s been a tough 24 hours and being named coach was bittersweet as he said he takes some of the fault and blame for the position the team is in. Sacco talked about developing the team’s work ethic in pregame skate and practices to set a foundation for everything else to then fall into place.
He recognized that work ethic is a huge component missing.
“There are a lot of guys who are underperforming right now,” Sacco said.