The Boston Bruins were eliminated from the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Florida Panthers on Friday night, prompting questions over head coach Jim Montgomery’s job security.
While nothing is definite, Montgomery appears to be safe in his position as head coach of the Boston Bruins. The Bruins announced on Monday that Montgomery will attend the team’s end-of-season press conference on Wednesday at 1 p.m. at TD Garden, with CEO and Alternate Governor Charlie Jacobs, President Cam Neely, and General Manager Don Sweeney.
Montgomery received the 2023 Jack Adams Award for NHL Coach of the Year after leading the Boston Bruins to an NHL record 65 victories and 135 points during the 2022-23 regular season. In the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Bruins were defeated by the eventual Eastern Conference champions, the Florida Panthers. Montgomery then guided what many saw as an underskilled 2023-24 Bruins team that lacked offense to a 47-20-15 (109 point) record and second place in the Atlantic Division. This was a squad that had lost veteran Bruins center and former captain Patrice Bergeron, longtime Bruins center David Krejci to retirement, and wingers Garnet Hathaway, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Taylor Hall, as well as defenseman Dmitry Orlov, to free agency last summer. This latest unexpected Boston Bruins group came within two games of reaching their first Eastern Conference Finals since 2019.
However, with the Bruins losing to the Panthers once more and several dubious coaching choices, including an NHL-record seven too-many-men-on-the-ice bench minors, there was some suspicion that Montgomery might still be in trouble. Montgomery faced speculation during his team’s 13 postseason games. When the Boston Bruins held a 3-1 series lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Sportsnet NHL Insider Eliotte Friedman opined that if the Bruins did not beat the Maple Leafs, heads would roll.
“We’ve talked a lot about the consequences of defeat in Toronto; it’s not as if there won’t be consequences in Boston,” Friedman told cohost Jeff Marek on the May 3 32 Thoughts podcast.
“Boston is an extremely tough organization. They demand greatness from their Bruins, and last season was a huge disappointment. I think it surprised everyone, and upsets can happen, but I think if we have this two years in a row – 3-1 up, lose; 3-1 up, lose – Boston, to me, the organization of the Jacobs family and Cam Neely in particular – I think Don Sweeney is intense but a very level-headed guy – but the Jacobs family and Cam Neely in particular, I don’t see them taking this easily and saying, ‘Nothing to see here,’ and I just don’t believe that. So, I believe the Bruins have a lot on the line as well.”
Friedman then brought up a valid argument regarding the Bruins’ lineup that NHL insiders have made to him, as well as many NHL scouts who have spoken with Boston Hockey Now during the Toronto series.
“It’s different in the playoffs when people game-plan for you,” Friedman explained. “In the regular season, Boston is an excellent squad. They play smartly and rarely beat themselves. They are talented and intelligent, which will help you win many games. They also have good goaltending. However, they believe that the difference occurs when there is only one team for seven games. If they can gameplan for what you do No. 1, and No. 2 if they’re – especially in Boston’s case, a few of people told me – is that if you’re disciplined defensively, for all of Boston’s hard work and wits, how many natural goal scorers do they actually have?
For example, you asked me about Nylander today. In my opinion, Nylander is a natural goal scorer, and he scored. That’s what he is paid to do. Even without [Auston] Matthews, I believe Toronto still has more natural goal scorers than Boston. You phone people and question others, and I was told during the game [Game 6] that Boston, even with Matthews, has to work harder to score than Toronto, but even without him, they have to work just as hard, if not harder. That’s a tough way to win in the playoffs.
Apparently, Bruins management and ownership share some of the blame, and happily, Jim Montgomery is not being singled out.
