Mohamed Magdy  

14 w

Boston Bruins fire coach Montgomery after 20 games

The Boston Bruins have fired coach Jim Montgomery after stumbling to a losing record in their first 20 games, the team announced Tuesday.

Associate coach Joe Sacco was elevated to interim head coach. The Bruins are off to an 8-9-3 start (.475 points percentage) and outside of a playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.

General manager Don Sweeney called the move "a difficult decision."

"Jim Montgomery is a very good NHL coach and an even better person. He has made a positive impact throughout the Bruins organization, and I am both grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to work with him and learn from him," Sweeney said in a statement.

Sacco was previously coach of the Colorado Avalanche from 2009 to 2013 and has been a part of the Boston coaching staff since 2014. The 55-year-old had a 13-year NHL playing career with five teams from 1990 to 2003.

Our team's inconsistency and performance in the first 20 games of the 2024-25 season has been concerning and below how the Bruins want to reward our fans. 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, Sweeney said.

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