Jim Montgomery Releases a Statement Towards The Bruins Before the Season
PUBLICATION
Dylan Robillard
September 3, 2023 (6:06 PM)
Jim Montgomery, the head coach of the Boston Bruins, will have a lot on his plate in his second season after losing crucial players in the offseason.
Nonetheless, after an agonizing first-round loss to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery remains optimistic about the upcoming season.
The Bruins won 65 games last season, setting some remarkable milestones, and Montgomery believes they are capable of doing it again. He's spent a lot of time in his office at Warrior Ice Arena trying to figure out the best way to get his team back into playoff contention so that his Bruins can try again next April.
Going into his second year behind the Bruins' bench, the Jack Adams Award-winner will have to go without Patrice Bergeron and Nick Foligno in the dressing room, to key leadership pieces. Despite that, Montgomery is still confident,
«We lost a lot of leadership. Fortunately, this team is filled with leadership,» the preternaturally positive Montgomery told the Boston Herald. «We have to make sure – and this is a big part of my job – that our standard of how we treat ourselves, how we care for each other remains the same. We can't let our standard of competitiveness and caring slip. And that's probably my biggest thing to make sure of this year, besides getting people to execute with pace and purpose.»
After crushing first-round loss, Montgomery still bullish on the Bruins
Boston Coach Jim Montgomery, entering his second year, looks ahead after a record-setting regular season and quick playoff exit last season.
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The type of defeat the Bruins absorbed last spring is not the kind you just «get over.» You win a record 65 games and then get bounced in the first round of the playoffs, and it's going to stick with you for a very long time.
But life goes on, the page must be turned and those in charge must plan and strategize for the new season ahead. As summer winds down, Coach Jim Montgomery, a former UMaine player, was getting into that mode last week. He's spending less time on the golf course, more time in his headquarters at Warrior Ice Arena trying to figure out a way to get his team back in playoff position so that his Bruins can attempt a do-over next April.
In his second year behind the Bruins' bench, the Jack Adams Award-winning Montgomery won't have Patrice Bergeron and Nick Foligno to lean on to guide the dressing room. Also out the door were top-six talents David Krejci, Taylor Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi.
While there is still talent here, this promises to be a very different season, especially for Montgomery.
«We lost a lot of leadership. Fortunately, this team is filled with leadership,» the preternaturally positive Montgomery told the Boston Herald. «We have to make sure – and this is a big part of my job – that our standard of how we treat ourselves, how we care for each other remains the same."
«We can't let our standard of competitiveness and caring slip. And that's probably my biggest thing to make sure of this year, besides getting people to execute with pace and purpose.»
The Bruins suffered a brutal defeat in the 2010 playoffs, blowing a 3-0 series lead to the Flyers. They used that as motivation to sweep the Flyers the next year and win their first Stanley Cup in 39 years in 2011.
Can this new Bruins team catch the same bug and turn bad into good?
«Yes and no,» said Montgomery. «For the players that were here, which is our true nucleus now, I think we can use it as fuel because it hardens us and it should make us better prepared for the next opportunity. For the team as a whole, no, we can't use it because we've got to get into the playoffs first. So our focus goes to what we have to do well in the regular season to give ourselves that opportunity again.»
It is safe to say a lot of media and personnel doubt the Bruins for this upcoming season, Montgomery pointed out that so did last year's team that set regular-season records.
«After our regular season, I think a lot of people forgot all the question marks on our team before last year. I think it's very similar to this year, that we're a bubble team, and that's what people were saying about us last year,» said Montgomery.
Previously on Bruins Insider
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Nick FolignoTaylor HallTyler Bertuzzi| POLL |
3 SEPTEMBRE | 88 ANSWERS Jim Montgomery Releases a Statement Towards The Bruins Before the Season Will the Bruins win the Stanley Cup in the next 10 years? |
| Yes | 67 | 76.1 % |
| No | 21 | 23.9 % |
| LIST OF POLLS |
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