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[Boston Bruins]

Bruins, Don Sweeney agree to two-year contract extension

Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Giving Don a crack at the rebuild.

Don Sweeney is no longer a lame duck!

The Bruins announced this morning that the team and their general manager have agreed to a two-year extension of his contract, which will have him on the books through the 2027-2028 season.

Sweeney’s prior deal was up at the conclusion of the 2025-2026 season, and questions about his status at the end-of-season media availability were kind of brushed aside.

Instead of heading into his final season and seeing how things go, the team has elected to give Sweeney a vote of confidence.

Sweeney has been the Bruins’ general manager for a decade now, with this summer being the first time he’s really been tasked for overseeing a rebuild (retool, if you’re being generous).

The two big items currently on the to-do list: hiring a new head coach and the upcoming NHL Draft, which will see the Bruins pick at their highest position in recent memory.

From the team’s press release:

“Don has navigated a disappointing period for our club with conviction, purpose, and a clear vision toward the future of the Boston Bruins,” said Bruins President Cam Neely. “He made difficult decisions around the trade deadline with the confidence they will pay dividends as we craft a path back to contention. He is continuing to follow that track with a robust and thorough search for our club’s next head coach, while also preparing for the upcoming NHL Draft and free agent signing period. I am confident in the plan he has followed these past few months – and excited for what’s to come for our team. The expectations in Boston have always been clear. It’s about winning championships.”

While Sweeney has his flaws as a GM, the extension seems like a logical course of action.

If you’re going to let Sweeney oversee the trade deadline teardown, lead the coaching search, and make the aforementioned top-ten pick, you might as well keep him around for a couple more years to see it through, right?

Big decisions to come, though.

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...tension-bruins-gm-news-bruins-coaching-search

 

[Boston Bruins]

2k25 Draft Profiles: Anton Frondell is a two way Center that you can easily fall in love with

Photo by Michael Miller/ISI Photos/Getty Images

There’s something to be said about a guy who can do just a little bit of everything well, and Anton Frondell fits that bill.

Analysis​

Sweden had a rare year in 2024 where no player from their country was picked in the first round of the NHL draft, and the Djurgårdens system appears to have taken that personally; winning the Allvenskan outright, and potentially setting up to have three players picked on day one of the 2025 Draft in LA; two of which could end up going in the top ten. His teammate Viktor Eklund may end up going earlier than he could, but both are exceptionally good at embodying a lot of what Tre Kronor’s talent has been lately; responsible at all ends of the ice...and completely unafraid of contact, in spite of what your uncle may believe.

Anton Frondell generated a lot of interest last year for being over a point per game in the Swedish Under-20 league at the tender age of 16, and many were eager to see if he’d follow it up with a stint in Djurgårdens proper to see if he’d be able to handle it. It wasn’t an easy transition, what with him being another prospect from this class who had injury concerns, but when he finally got the chance to play in the Allsvenskan? He gave us all a reason to take notice.

The biggest asset of his game is this; he’s intelligent, he’s hard working...and he’s flexible. On offense; Frondell loves leading the charge; using his solid frame to help him in board battles and his strong stick skills to help open up ice for his teammates, then immediately try to find weaknesses in his opponent’s coverage to exploit, and seemingly finds ways to create openings in those defenses with simple, smart use of his body and positioning; something both he and his teammates have benefited from immensely. However, that’s a part of his game that he can involve himself with...it’s just not the only part.

Frondell has a very sharp, tricky shot; and prefers shooting first to active playmaking when he can get the chance; biasing quicker wrist and snap shots that he can put on net with laser accuracy to catch goaltenders looking, and his stickwork means he can easily bring a goaltender down a dark road if he needs to. His skating skill also allows him to find the space on the ice he needs to get the best possible shot while still being actively defended against, or the best possible chance to finish off a passing play for his teammates.

On defense, he’s able to use that same level of play recognition and aggression to shut down opposing forecheckers; getting back quickly, shutting lanes down with his body, his stick, and his most powerful asset; his mind. He seemingly finds ways to just infuriate oncoming opponents with how effortlessly he can shut them down and turn transition back the other way with little effort; even if he has to take a hit to make a play.

All of this, mind you, has not just been done against his peers in the J20 Nationell, but also against grown-ass men in the Allsvenskan, with extremely little dip in how he’s performed. His game is very mature for someone so young, and Djurgårdens coach seemingly couldn’t find enough reasons to praise this young man.

If there’s a negative to Frondell’s game, it’s usually identified as his acceleration. He is a fast skater when he’s at speed, and he’s good at maneuvering in space as well as lateral movement, it’s just a matter of those first two or three steps that seem to generate less power under his legs than they should. Some of it could just be lingering rust from his season being cut short (which seems to be just about everybody in this Draft’s top 10 outside of Porter Martone and Michael Misa), but it should be a point of focus for him going forward, because if he can nail that one thing down, he could be an absolute star of a player.

And of course...the injury. Get used to me bringing it up, it’s going to be a consistent problem with this class. Frondell’s first half of the year was derailed by a knee injury, which forced him to miss almost the entire first half of the season, which means we’ll of course be playing the roulette of “is it ever truly healed” forever. It didn’t seem to bother him much with the appropriate recovery time he was given, and the fact that he immediately followed up some time in J20 with playing against men and finishing his season with a championship with the home squad among a host of honors like best rookie and the Allsvenskan trophy, so maybe it is a thing of the past...but this draft is littered with broken bodies and incomplete seasons, and I do think it’s at least fair to question at least if it could be a concern.

Frankly, I think Frondell would be an easy win for any team looking to draft him. He brings a nearly complete package with only a couple of smaller concerns for the development staff to work on him with. He embodies a lot of the things B’s fans love in their players, and even if he isn’t the biggest prospect, he sure doesn’t play like it.

If for some reason he doesn’t get taken between 5th and when the Bruins pick? He’s on the short list of players I think who would make a wonderful choice for this team.

Rankings​

Ranked 1st by NHL Central Scouting via European Skaters

Ranked 12th by EliteProspects.com

Ranked 5th by TSN’s Bob McKenzie

Ranked 8th by McKeen’s Hockey

Ranked 2nd by FloHockey

Ranked 7th by FC Hockey

Ranked 6th by DailyFaceoff.com

Ranked 5th by Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino

Ranked 6th by Dobber Prospects

Ranked 6th by Smaht Scouting

Stats, via EliteProspects.com​

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...-center-that-you-can-easily-fall-in-love-with

 

[Boston Bruins]

Draft Profiles 2k25: Jackson Smith is the model of the modern defenseman

We’ve seen a lot of forwards so far, but what about defensemen?

Analysis:​

While the Bruins rebuild/retool/unbaddening will almost certainly need their offense to be completely overhauled, Boston should consider looking into getting a little more talented on defense; as while they did end up unimaginably unlucky thanks to the injuries to both Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy, that corps feels like it will end up needing just as big of a change as the forward group. So let’s take a look at the best available defender that isn’t expected to go 1st overall, and see how he handles himself?

Smith comes from the Washington State part of the WHL; the Tri-City Americans, who have a steady tradition of strong defense prospects like Brandon Carlo, Lukas Dragicevic (before he got traded elsewhere), Juuso Valimaki, and Sheldon Souray, and largely lived up to that tradition with a strong season on an average Amerks squad.

Smith’s game is as complete as it can get for your average defenseman in 2025; he’s a strong skater with exceptional acceleration and lateral movement, able to be anywhere and everywhere on the ice in a very short amount of time. His understanding of his place on the ice is advanced for a kid his age; keeping himself firmly in position 90% of the time and the 10% he isn’t, he can just slot himself back into position with a stride. His stick skills make him a nightmare to try and get around; since he’s a huge kid and that affords him a long stick that he can make quick use of in his own end...and he’s more than willing to use that size to crunch a body that he’s successfully corralled to the boards.

But the true mark of a modern defenseman is not only his defensive acumen, but also his ability to turn that up ice and contribute offensively. His skating allows him to help join the rush and keep the puck moving in the right direction, and his stick skill has afforded him a real playmaking talent that your average NHL team salivates at; his productive assist totals only back it up. Together, these things make him a challenging player to face off against; built not just for his intellect away from the puck, but his willingness to advance it himself that gives his team a much more broader attack.

Unfortunately, Smith happens to have one very big achilles heel, one that probably has him swimming in the middle of the top 10 rather than being an easy push for the top 4. Smith early in the season was notable not just for his physical ability and his defensive awareness...but for how he’d often throw all of that away for some of the most preposterous turnovers in his own end you’ve ever seen. Forecheckers coming at him with speed or aggression often forced the kind of turnovers that are, and I’m trying to be very kind while I’m saying this: unacceptable for a player of his talent level. He got better about it over time, but he would still end up letting loose a truly bizarre turnover if he had multiple players coming at him and he felt that there was no help coming along the boards. It’s a confusing wart to have, because few players his age could reasonably threaten him strength-wise, even in the much more physical WHL.

Drafting Smith will involve ensuring that he continues to develop his confidence with the puck, especially while under pressure, but also in promoting the things he is good at; namely the physical aspect of the game and the ability to leave the zone with the puck under his own power.

Personally, while I think Smith is good, and the Bruins will need to improve their defense somehow...he’s still really good, and teams that have more patience in their defenders because they desperately need players

This fanbase already has one large defenseman who turns the puck over in catastrophic ways that they wanna run out of town on a rail. I think the patience we’re going to be preaching for the next few years is going to be running thin specifically on that kind of player for right now.

Better to just focus down on a forward.

Ratings​

Ranked 13th by NHL Central Scouting among North American Skaters

Ranked 6th by EliteProspects.com

Ranked 10th by TSN’s Bob McKenzie

Ranked 5th by McKeen’s Hockey

Ranked 15th by FC Hockey

Ranked 7th by DailyFaceoff.com

Ranked 13th by Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino

Ranked 9th by Dobber Prospects

Ranked 8th by Smaht Scouting

Stats, via EliteProspects.com​

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...l-tri-city-americans-nhl-hockey-boston-bruins

 

[Boston Bruins]

Morning Skate: Wagon

Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Panthers are rolling.

Welcome to Friday, folks!

Memorial Day Weekend us upon us, which means the unofficial start of summer is here.

The Carolina Hurricanes look like they’re getting themselves ready for summer vacation, as they got pasted by Florida again last night, 5-0.

The Panthers won both Games 1 and 2 on the road, meaning Carolina is staring at quite the mountain to climb.

Florida looks like a team that’s rounding into Stanley Cup form at the right time — they’ve won their last three games, all on the road, by a combined score of 16-3.

16-3!!!!

My guess is folks around these parts are split on seeing Florida have success: some will still be bitter about recent playoff happenings, while others may want to see Brad Marchand have another shot at some hardware.

In any case, I doubt many will be shedding tears for Carolina. It’s probably just me, but they’ve been a team that has annoyed me for a while now.

However, I’m old and a lot of things annoy me, so take that with a grain of salt.

Closer to home, Pierre LeBrun added some insight to the Bruins coaching search, noting that he believes the Bruins have talked to Marco Sturm, Lay Leach, Mitch Love, Jay Woodcroft, Luke Richardson, and Joe Sacco.

LeBrun also stated that he thinks final interviews are coming soon. My guess is that we’ll see a hire announced by the first week in June, but who knows?

Elsewhere, the Maple Leafs predictably parted ways with Brendan Shanahan earlier this week, the first of a few changes likely to come to Toronto this summer.

Also, the Chicago Blackhawks hired Jeff Blashill as their head coach earlier this week, taking another vacancy off of the board.

What’s on tap for today? Any big plans for the weekend?

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...s-news-head-coaching-search-bruins-candidates

 

[Boston Bruins]

Morning Skate: Raise it high

Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images

The USA wins gold for the first time in 91 years at the World Championships, bringing the B’s some gold to go with their black!

Happy Memorial Day, everybody! Hope you’re enjoying it for all it’s worth!

Yesterday, the US played one of their best ever games for the program, in bringing themselves over the Swiss to win their first gold medal at the World Championships since 1933, and

After perhaps a less than auspicious start, Jeremy Swayman seemed to get back into what we hoped he’d be; finishing the tournament at a cool .920 SV%. It’s not the best of the tourney, but hey; not everybody can be a 37 year old Swiss guy who decides he’s actually the greatest goaltender to ever do it for two weeks. Besides, he only really needed to be better than him once to get gold.

Also helps that the USA locked all the way in once the knockout round began; they shed a lot of their bad habits (and critically benched Mason Lohrei, which definitely helped) and played like a team possessed through the quarters and all the way into the Finals; where we got nothing but fantastic games from bell to bell to bell. David Pastrnak put his country on his back in a valiant effort (and led the tournament in points), Elias Lindholm got Bronze in a hard-fought game against Denmark; a team that seemed determined to go as far as humanly possible for their home crowd and shocked Canada in front of everybody, and to top it all off...Team USA remembered that there was someone who’d played a game just like this, on ice far away from home, who couldn’t be there with them on that day.

That day, they made sure he got to join the battle, and join the glory.

Team USA accepting the World Championship trophy with a Johnny Gaudreau jersey in hand. What a moment. What a genuinely incredible moment

— Alex (@realsfdynasty.bsky.social) 2025-05-25T21:39:38.526Z

Really gets the dust up in the air, I’ll tell you that.

I think pretty much every IIHF event they put on this year, from Worlds of both men and women, to the U-18 tourneys, to the World Juniors, really highlighted that finally, at long last finally...the gap is closing. There’s clear power squads, but those powers have to work harder than they ever have; you can get shocked by anybody these days. Maybe we’re still quite some distance from say...France ever competing for a medal, but we’re getting somewhere on it. The game is growing slowly, but it is growing, and that’s enough.

Also, Hockey Canada! We’re once again back to jabbing you in the spine for being bad! Denmark? You had all that talent and couldn’t summon more than a goal against Denmark? Did you really want this or have you relapsed back into “we DESERVE this” efforts again? Absolute poverty franchise. No wonder all your best go south of the border; they have to go learn from Americans, Europeans and Russians how to want it enough.

Anyway, what else happened? Oh right, the conference finals. Kind’ve been a bit of a downer.

Florida’s live execution of the Carolina Hurricanes is on at 8pm today. Maybe they get a dead fish bounce, but I don’t think there’s a win there for the Canes. They’ve just had their entire system popped open like a can opener by a bunch of bullies and cheap shot artists...who just also happen to be one of the best coached teams in the NHL, as well as several of the most crushing possession guys in the sport. Real evil stuff there; they don’t even need to do this; they just like it.

On the other side, it appears Stuart Skinner has suddenly realized he’s not going to Dallas for the food and has picked up his game enough that the Oilers have a lead. Personally, I’m not counting the Stars out yet. There’s more goals in that team somewhere; they just gotta catch Skinner in the right way.

Otherwise, what’s on tap? I got a nice shandy for the weather.

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2025/5/26/24437253/morning-skate-raise-it-high

 

[Boston Bruins]

Morning Skate: Dead Fish Bounce

Photo by Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Eastern Conference series continues on for at least one more game!

Merry Tuesday! Get back to work.

That’s what it feels like, anyway.

Anyway, Boston’s prospects and players have settled in for the offseason, and we’re still awaiting the announcement of a new coach signing, but the Eastern Conference championship finally found Rod Brind’Amour re-acquiring the Corsi Button and smashing that thing through the dashboard in order to beat the Panthers for the first time in a good long while; first in 12 kicks at this particular can. Thus, we got a Game 5 looming on Wednesday for that series. I said this was probably a dead cat bounce last time, but hey! Maybe they figured something out and suddenly we have a series in danger of going seven! That’d be a nice change of pace!

I know that there’s not really much of a chance for the Canes given that they have San Jose disease...but man wouldn’t it be funny if the Cats blew it here. Here of all times. The Canes defeat their demons as dramatically as possible.

Tonight however? Dallas/Edmonton. Let’s see if Tyler Seguin and his band of merry men can even things up against the Oilers. That game’s on at 8pm tonight, and there’s hope that Roope Hintz might play!

I dunno if he’s the final antidote for “The Oilers decided it was time to kill you now”, but every little bit helps at this point! Dallas only very recently took full control of the possession game, so any help in that department will hopefully make peppering Skinner with shots easier.

So! What’s on tap?

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2025/5/27/24437774/morning-skate-dead-fish-bounce

 

[Boston Bruins]

Morning Skate: Sturm Und Drang

Photo by Lars Baron/NHLI via Getty Images

The Bruins world is abuzz with rumor about the new head coach!

Welcome aboard, everybody!

The Draft Profiles are taking a week off, as I’m under a new schedule and need time to adjust to that while also writing about prospects. But that’s not important (yet), there’s significant movement suggesting that Marco Sturm will be the next head coach of the Boston Bruins; first reported by a EliteProspects.com’s Cam Robinson:

Hearing Marco Sturm is set to become the next Boston Bruins head coach

— Cam Robinson (@Hockey_Robinson) May 28, 2025​

Personally? I like the hire if it’s true!

The Reign are usually pretty good, and so was Germany under his watch, but a big part of why remains talent. Sturm is a good starting point, but he needs help on the ice. As fun as it is to reminisce about his own heroic efforts in this city, he can’t take to the field of play at his age the next step must be talent. It must be a center in this draft (at least in my opinion), and it must be at least one major improvement at every forward position. We can find out whether or not Mason Lohrei warrants improvement upon once the season begins.

Also! Game 5 of Carolina/Florida is today! Given how boring the conference finals have been, it’d be REAAAAAL nice if the Canes could get their act together enough to make this series mildly competitive. The West series is starting to feel like it’s over in ways that we’ve never seen.

What’s on tap?

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2025/5/28/24438504/morning-skate-sturm-und-drang

 

[Boston Bruins]

Morning Skate: The hand thing means taxes

Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The Stanley cup Final is set, and the hockey world is talking about...state tax again. Oh boy.

Welcome back! I hope you’ve enjoyed your week.

The Stanley Cup Finals are a rematch; the Edmonton Oilers versus the Florida Panthers. Both processed their foes in 5 games, and it was only ever competitive for a very, very brief stint of time. Will Connor finally take his crown? Or will we all pretend this is Brad Marchand’s great hurrah where he takes on an entire hockey team at once and wins?

The hockey watching world is naturally, not focusing on that, because otherwise both series were kinda dull and both conferences have plenty of reasons to dislike their representatives this year.

Instead, a good number of them from certain parts of North America are complaining about how US states with income tax seem to be in the NHL Conference Finals a lot. Which sure is an...interpretation of how teams end up where they do.

Ignoring that the whole income tax thing is completely misunderstood, I’m pretty sure the reason Vegas, Dallas, and the Florida teams do so well is that they either established a culture from jump of winning by identifying weaknesses in the market, or bled themselves raw until they could effectively remake their identity in whatever image they wanted after years of wandering the wilderness. I’m sure the incentives are nice, but you can still suck out loud in warm weather. Go ask Dylan Guenther how fun playing in a state with at best a token income tax was.

Maybe I’m just looking at this narrative and wondering if they’ve created a tulpa out of State Income Tax in order to villainize things they don’t like about their own teams but don’t want to verbalize as active criticism. Was State Income Tax really paying a first and Fraser Minten for Brandon Carlo after an offseason of a defense getting older, slower, and not very interested in leaving the zone under their own power? State Income Tax forcing your entire team to play “Petey or JT” all year? State Income Tax making your goalie fall apart and badly expose the system that made him so great? State Income Tax holding the mayor hostage so that Josh Anderson got top six minutes? Did State Income Tax tell you to get three aging forwards; all of which wouldn’t be at all what you needed to start your “rebuild”? Of course not.

Those were choices made in clear mind and conscience, and with the expectation that the teams could pay for them. State Income Tax didn’t force your GM to do dumb things; they did all of that on their own time.

I dunno man, maybe it’s just a smokescreen for “I’m getting mad I fell for it again”.

Anyway the Stanley Cup Finals are happening on Wednesday. Let’s all try to focus our brainspace on that and the potential hire of someone for the job of Bruins head coach. That seems like a much better use of our time.

What’s on tap? What did you think of Pete DeBoer throwing his goalie under the bus in the post-game, that was nuts, right?

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2025/5/30/24439846/morning-skate-the-hand-thing-means-taxes

 

[Boston Bruins]

Morning Skate: It’s all academic

Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Not much is happening in the pro world as we await the Stanley Cup Finals. But in the world of prospects...the effects of the changed NCAA/CHL rules are beginning to take root.

It’s Monday, alright. Let’s all hope for a nice, easy day.

The Cup Final begins on Wednesday, so everything I’ve wanted to say about it I’ve already kind of said already. Two crazy good teams who may also engage in a little bit of skullduggery and thuggery not because of any reason to on-ice wise. But because they like it. Hope it goes 7.

Instead, I wanna discuss the NCAA/CHL agreement, and already what it’s bearing fruit on.

The Memorial Cup finished up yesterday (The London Knights won. It wasn’t close.), a boatload of CHL players have begun committing to NCAA schools; North Dakota just picked up Keaton Verhoeff and Cole Reschny from the Victoria Royals, Providence picked up the Brandon Wheat Kings’ captain in March, Luke Coughlin of Rimouski’s going to be a Black Bear this fall, and there’s rumor that Justin Carbonneau may eschew the Q for BC.

Of course; just about everybody is keeping an eye out for what the young McKenna actually ends up doing for his draft year. Does he stay in Medicine Hat and take another crack at it? Or go play for Michigan/Minnesota/Some other Big 10 team? Mike McMahon of College Hockey Insider believes that even more may be coming, as prospects may want to hear from their teams on where they should go.

It’s a strange new world for the CHL; they tried their damnedest not to lose kids to the AHL and the AHL did their best to accommodate for them, but then the NCAA made it’s wacky world of transfer portals, NIL, and semi-expanding list of power teams available to the CHL players; and they’ve already begun taking full advantage of it. Sure, they’re also subject to the whims of the college game; the hockey itself being a lot less open than your average CHL game, power struggles from ADs getting into hot water, coaches moving to different programs and the like, but if the choice is between Kalamazoo, a few hours on a set for the local plumber, and some undisclosed amount of money versus trying to make $250 CAD last me a month in the BC Interior?

I think I’d read the miserable script the plumbing service put together if it meant I got a little walking around money for when the seniors go to buy beer.

While right now a great many of the top prospects still play in CHL leagues, there’s no guarantee that will be the case in the next few years. Maybe the CHL will finally wake up after the draft and realize they could be experiencing a serious talent drain as the years go on and find ways to keep themselves competitive with the NCAA’s NIL collectives and donor money; maybe start building player-first housing around their rinks; eliminating the need for outside billet families and ensuring there’s guaranteed facilities for both education and recreation, and try to find ways to increase the monthly stipend.

Personally however, I think their best hope is convincing the AHL to lift the rules so that players of a certain age can return to the CHL if they aren’t ready for it yet.

So! That said! What CHL player would you pluck off of a roster to boost your favorite college squad? I think Ryan Roobroeck would be a fantastic Terrier.

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2025/6/2/24440924/morning-skate-its-all-academic

 

[Boston Bruins]

Morning Skate: Showtime

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

The main event is here.

It is Wednesday, my dudes.

At long last, after what seems like a few weeks of waiting, the Stanley Cup Final begins tonight in Edmonton.

The Oilers will host the Panthers in Game 1, with puck drop set for some time in the general area of 8 PM Eastern.

Storylines abound with this match-up, as the Panthers seek their second Cup in a row while the Oilers look for revenge after last year’s seven-game defeat.

Locally, we’ve got skin in the game on both sides, with former Bruins Trent Frederic and Brad Marchand lining up opposite one another.

While Marchand adding another ring to his jewelry case in the twilight of an outstanding career might have more appeal to the average Bruins fan, it’s at least nice to know that one of the two will be getting a ring.

Speaking of the Bruins, there’s still no movement (as of Tuesday night) in the coaching search.

We heard earlier this week from Pierre LeBrun that he thought the B’s would be naming a coach early in the week this week; that ship has kind of sailed.

Part of me wonders if the league would prefer teams not name new coaches once the Final begins just to keep the spotlight on that marquee event, but it’s also unfair to ask teams to wait, so...who knows.

We’ve heard, from various sources but without official confirmation, that Joe Sacco isn’t a finalist and that some combination of Marco Sturm, Jay Woodcroft, and maybe Jay Leach are the last men standing.

However, there are rumblings that Pete DeBoer may be on the way out in Dallas, so you can’t help but wonder if the Bruins might be waiting that one out to see what happens.

Elsewhere, Conor Ryan wonders if the B’s should go after Marco Rossi and Marchand reflected on the end of his Bruins tenure.

What’s on tap for today?

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...archand-trent-frederic-bruins-coaching-search

 

[Boston Bruins]

Bruins hire Marco Sturm as next head coach

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NHLI via Getty Images

The return of Sturmface to the fanbase!

Get your best Sturm-Faces ready, because the Boston Bruins have found their next head coach.

Marco's coming home.

Marco Sturm has been named the 30th head coach in #NHLBruins history.

: https://t.co/9jsQamgTRV pic.twitter.com/DUgwnisbHR

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) June 5, 2025​

The Boston Bruins announced that former assistant for the Los Angeles Kings, Head Coach of the Kings’ AHL affiliate Ontario Reign, and Ex-Bruin Marco Sturm has taken the job as Boston Bruins Head Coach; The 31st man to hold the position in any capacity.

You may likely remember Sturm for his time as one of the many forgotten stars of the 2000’s; a player who’s intensity and goalscoring prowess made him a dim light in a dark time for the B’s as they slowly built themselves back up.

His most notable highlight is likely either his gamewinner goal of Game 6 against Montreal in 2008 where he spent the better part of 30 straight seconds of game time putting Roman Hamrlik in hell:

or his overtime tip-in to win the 2010 Winter Classic.

Since his retirement in 2014, Sturm has found coaching to be agreeable to him; he’s spent the last few years as the head coach of the Ontario Reign, and under his stewardship the Reign have had a pretty consistent improvement over the years; going from nearly the basement of the AHL Pacific in his first year to a near-guaranteed lock for the playoffs, and a record of 119-80-17 through three years.

Of course, that pales in comparison to the lofty heights that Sturm has taken his home country’s national team as head coach, as they started as a perpetual 10th in the world under his watch, and has gone on to see Olympic Silver under his tutelage, and some of their best results at the World Championships over the last decade.

“We’re proud to name Marco as the 30th Head Coach of the Boston Bruins and welcome him, Astrid, Mason, and Kaydie to Boston,” said GM Don Sweeney in a Bruins press release. “Throughout this process, our goal was to identify a coach who could uphold our strong defensive foundation while helping us evolve offensively. We were also looking for a communicator and leader – someone who connects with players, develops young talent, and earns the respect of the room. Marco impressed us at every step with his preparation, clarity, and passion."

"I’m incredibly honored to be named head coach of the Boston Bruins,” said Sturm in that same press release. “I want to thank Charlie Jacobs and the Jacobs family, Cam Neely, and Don Sweeney for trusting me with this opportunity. Boston has always held a special place in my heart, and I know how much this team means to the city and to our fans. I’ve felt that passion as a player, and I can’t wait to be behind the bench and feel it again. I’m excited to get to work and do everything I can to help this team succeed.”

While his pedigree largely speaks for itself, the big question of course with Sturm at the helm, is what kind of team will he be at the head of come the draft and free agency.

Recent AHL hires have either gone fine or poorly depending on the team’s roster coming in, and it’s clear that Boston still has a lot of work to do if they want to get back to being competitive.

Sturm’s teams definitely seem to have that competitiveness that he showed as a player, but a lot of that comes from talent; the Reign still have plenty of solid players and Sturm was credited for getting NHLers to come back home to Deutschland to play for Die Eismannschaft.

He will still need plenty of that to make his gameplan pop properly on the biggest professional stage. That’s up to Don to decide.

So, until we get a better picture of what they look like coming into next season? Let’s all welcome Marco Sturm back to the Boston Bruins!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2025/6/5/24438487/bruins-hire-marco-sturm-as-next-head-coach