It was only a matter of time before Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney did something to try to shake his team out of its early-season malaise. That shakeup finally came on Tuesday with the firing of head coach Jim Montgomery and the promotion of Joe Sacco to interim head coach.
Sacco has his work cut out for him, because it would be far too simplistic to pin all, or even most, of the Bruins’ issues on Montgomery. Whether it’s on-ice X’s and O’s or players’ effort level and motivation, there is plenty this team must fix if they’re going to start playing like the team they were expected to be.
Here are five issues Sacco and the Bruins need to fix:
1. The captains’ consistency
It stood out when David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Brad Marchand led the Bruins to a comeback win last Tuesday in St. Louis because, unfortunately, those three just haven’t taken over like that with any regularity.
Teams go as their leaders and best players go, and Boston’s three captains aren’t going enough right now. Pastrnak is on pace for 70 points, way off his 110-point pace from the last two seasons. Sure, he isn’t getting enough help from his linemates, but that was true last year as well. Pastrnak had zero shots on goal Monday, an unacceptable number against a bad team like the Columbus Blue Jackets. He leads all NHL forwards in giveaways, which is also unacceptable.
Marchand is on pace for 53 points, which would be his lowest total in 10 years. He has zero points in the last three games. McAvoy is on pace for 29 points, which would be his lowest since an injury-plagued 2018-19 season. He has four points in the last 18 games. All three captains rank in the top 10 in the NHL in minor penalties taken, and all three are major parts of the league’s worst power play.
Montgomery got tough with his captains to try to wake them up. He yelled at Marchand on the bench. He benched Pastrnak for a third period. He temporarily took McAvoy off the top power-play unit. None of it seemed to work.
Ultimately, Marchand, Pastrnak and McAvoy are the ones most responsible for their play on the ice and their leadership off it, but Sacco also needs to be part of the solution and figure out how he can help them throttle up and create more of a wake for everyone else to follow in.
2. Jeremy Swayman
Swayman wanted to be paid like an elite No. 1 goalie and held out through all of training camp and the preseason before finally securing a massive eight-year, $66 million contract. So far, he is not playing like anything close to an elite No. 1 goalie.
Swayman has given up 12 goals in his last two starts and is now 5-7-2 on the season with an .884 save percentage, which ranks 47th out of 56 qualified goalies. His minus-7.3 goals saved above expected ranks 52nd.
“I think it can only go up from here,” Swayman said of his play Monday night.
In what turned out to be one of his final comments as Bruins head coach, Montgomery noted Monday night that missing training camp doesn’t help anyone. If it’s just rust that Swayman is still shaking off, then that is something Swayman and goalie coach Bob Essensa will need to work through.
But then there’s also the report from Elliotte Friedman earlier this week that there are still some “lingering hard feelings” from Swayman’s prolonged, public contract negotiations. He didn’t specify who is harboring those hard feelings, or towards whom. Swayman himself implied Monday night that he missed some valuable team bonding time.
“I think the biggest thing that I lost out on was this group,” Swayman said of missing camp. “I’m really trying to engulf just being in the room again and being a leader.”
If there really are “hard feelings” that are still affecting Swayman or the locker room in any way, then Sacco will need to help bury them and get everyone pulling on the same rope.
3. The awful special teams
The Bruins rank last on the power play (11.7%), 25th on the penalty kill (75.6%), and last in special teams net goal differential (-13). You just can’t be that bad on special teams and expect to have any kind of success in the NHL.
Sacco has been in charge of the Bruins’ usually elite PK for years, but even that group has underachieved this season. Taking fewer penalties would certainly help, as the Bruins have been shorthanded more than any other team. In fact, that’s actually one area that has maybe turned a little bit of a corner during this three-game losing streak. The Bruins have only been shorthanded six times in the last three games, and they have killed all six.
The bigger problem is the power play. It is just a flat-out mess, going 1-for-23 (4.3%) over the last seven games. To make matters worse, it also handed the Blue Jackets two shorthanded goals Monday night. The Bruins have now given up a league-high four shorties on the season. From bad entries to slow puck movement to lost battles for rebounds and loose pucks, there just isn’t enough urgency or confidence within this group right now.
Montgomery and assistant coach Chris Kelly had been the ones in charge of the power play. Montgomery is obviously now out of the picture. We’ll see if Kelly now takes full control, or if Sacco or another assistant gives things a fresh set of eyes.
4. The 5-on-5 structure
A week ago, the Bruins seemed to be building at least some sort of defensive foundation at 5-on-5. Then Hampus Lindholm got hurt. Then they gave up 11 5-on-5 goals in three games. Now they’re back at square one when it comes to 5-on-5 structure, especially since the offense hasn’t been there all year (27th in 5-on-5 scoring).
So much of the Bruins’ 5-on-5 play just looks sloppy and disconnected. They struggle to complete consecutive passes. They commit too many turnovers on the breakout. They give opponents too much space on zone entries. Their forwards don’t backcheck hard enough. They often arrive late on the forecheck. They don’t hold onto pucks in the offensive zone.
A lot of it is effort. Some of it is X’s and O’s. However Montgomery envisioned this team playing, he wasn’t able to get them to do it. It will now be up to Sacco to get everyone on the same page and buying into his vision.
5. The overall energy and effort level
One line from Sweeney’s statement Tuesday afternoon stood out above the rest.
“I believe Joe Sacco has the coaching experience to bring the players and the team back to focusing on the consistent effort the NHL requires to have success,” the GM said.
The obvious suggestion there is that the Bruins’ focus and effort has not been where it needs to be so far this season. Charlie Coyle basically said the same thing Monday night when he admitted that the Bruins’ practices have not been good enough.
More energy and effort would go a long way towards fixing most of this list. That has to come from the players first and foremost. But the head coach also has to find ways to draw it out of the group when it’s not coming naturally. Montgomery ran out of ideas and time. Now we’ll see if Sacco has any more success.