We know that new Bruins coach Jim Montgomery has already talked to most, if not all, of his new team. And while we don’t know a ton of details about those conversations, we do know that he’s talked to Patrice Bergeron (still not officially signed, but expected to be back) multiple times and found those discussions to be “enlightening.”
What's taking so long with Bergeron and Krejci?
Now we have a little bit of insight into Montgomery’s first conversation with Brad Marchand as well. Appearing on “The Cam & Strick Podcast” with hosts Cam Janssen and Andy Strickland this week, Montgomery revealed that Marchand called him on the day he was hired and that there was an especially “impressive” message that Marchand shared with him.
“Yeah, the day that I was announced, he called me,” Montgomery said. “He was in the Bahamas, I think he has a place -- I don’t know if it was Bahamas or Bermuda, I forget. But again, it just goes back to the same thing. Everybody I talked to talks about what it’s like there [in Boston]. The impressive thing that he said to us was, ‘We’re ready to be coached. Whatever you demand, we’ll do.’ You don’t hear that in your first conversation all the time.”
It was the latest example of Montgomery raving about his early impressions of the Bruins’ culture, something he did multiple times during the nearly 80-minute podcast appearance. At one point, he said he felt “lucky” to be walking into the situation he is and called the Bruins’ leadership “unparalleled.”
He also said that after coaching Torey Krug in St. Louis, he can now see clearly that Krug had taken some of that Bruins culture to the Blues.
“The way he [Torey Krug] thinks, and now having talked to a lot of players in Boston, you can see it’s part of the culture there,” Montgomery said. “There’s something that they really love about wearing the Spoked B. And that’s something, like the culture’s already established there. Like I have to stay out of the way of that part. I have to make sure that I’m prepared and giving them the opportunities with the rest of the staff to have success on the ice.”
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