Mike Milbury hasn’t always been the biggest fan of Jim Montgomery’s coaching style. During his weekly appearances on The Greg Hill Show last season, the former Bruin and former NHL analyst took to calling Montgomery “Mr. Rogers” and said he thought the current Bruins coach was too “happy-go-lucky” and too “buddy-buddy” with players.
Milbury likes how Montgomery has handled a couple situations early on this season, though. He praised Montgomery for benching Jake DeBrusk earlier this season when DeBrusk was late for a team meeting. During his Greg Hill Show appearance on Thursday (listen to the full interview above), Milbury said he thinks Montgomery is “mostly” taking the right approach when it comes to rookies making mistakes, too.
Montgomery benched rookie defenseman Mason Lohrei for much of the third period in Monday’s win over Dallas after Lohrei made an ill-advised pinch at the offensive blue line on the Stars’ first goal. Asked about the benching on Wednesday, Montgomery explained that it’s more of a “teaching moment” for Lohrei than a punishment, similar to when fellow rookie Matt Poitras committed a costly turnover against the Panthers a couple weeks ago.
“Well, that's part of the new generation,” Milbury said. “Somebody fumbles the ball for Bill [Belichick] and he gets benched. Montgomery is taking this a different direction, that you have to accept the fact that he's made a mistake and re-adjust the way he holds the ball or handles the puck or whatever else he might be doing.
“…But I do think he's right in more senses than not because that's the way these guys are brought into the game and taught the game. There's more time for understanding and teaching. God knows they have enough staff to teach people. I mean, it's not the days of Harry Sinden and Don Cherry when it was just one coach. Imagine that? Just one coach. Now you can hardly walk on the bench because there's so many guys there.
“I think mostly he's right, but I think he's got to accept the fact that there’s also time to say, ‘Hey, get your ass in gear and get in here on time.’ When he did that with DeBrusk, I was very happy to see it. He had to pay a price, and I think he has to continue to exert that discipline.”