Bruins Fire Head Coach Jim Montgomery, Hire Former Maple Leaf as New Coach
The Boston Bruins have fired head coach Jim Montgomery and his replacement happens to be former Toronto Maple Leafs forward, Joe Sacco.
After years of being a top team in the Atlantic Division, the Boston Bruins have gotten off to a very disappointing start in 2024-25, compiling a record of 8-9-3, capped off by a disappointing 4-4-2 run over their last 10 games.
The Jones and Keefe podcast broke the news live on their show on Tuesday that Montgomery has been officially relieved of his duties, despite being one of the league's top coaches last season and the Jack Adams Award winner just one season prior. They also shocked everyone by announcing that former Leafs forward Joe Sacco would be taking over behind the bench in Boston.
Originally drafted by the Maple Leafs in the 4th round (71st overall) in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft, Sacco went on to play 3 seasons in Toronto from 1990-1993 before the journeyman winger landed in Anaheim, where he spent the majority of his career.
While Sacco played his entire collegiate career with Boston University, in the H-East Division, he surprisingly never ended up playing for the Bruins across his 13 NHL season. He did, however join the Bruins as an assistant coach in 2014 and has remained an assistant straight through until the start of this season, when he became an associate coach for the Bruins.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman has confirmes the validity of the report, and has also reported that Sacco will carry an interim tag in Boston. With no guarantee of Sacco being the permanent solution for the Bruins, we could yet see another change.
Sacco produced 94 goals and 213 points across his 738-game NHL career with stops in Toronto, Anaheim, Long Island, Washington and Philadelphia.
