Bruins reportedly scheduled to interview 5 candidates for head-coaching vacancy

BOSTON -- While Bruce Cassidy has already found a new home in Las Vegas, the Boston Bruins are set to interview a handful of potential replacements in the near future. 

Don Sweeney will be a busy man in the coming weeks, as the Bruins have five head-coaching candidates scheduled for an interview, according to Joe McDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Those candidates are Jim Montgomery, Jay Leach, Joe Sacco, Spencer Carbery, and David Quinn.

Montgomery won an NCAA title with Denver in 2017, and turned his successful five-year run as head coach of the Pioneers into a head coaching gig in the NHL with the Dallas Stars. He led Dallas to a 43-32-7 record and a playoff berth in his first season on the bench in 2018-19, but the Stars fell to the St. Louis Blues (the eventual Stanley Cup champs) in the second round of the playoffs.

The Stars started the 2019-20 season a promising 17-11-3, but Montgomery was fired in early December for "unprofessional conduct." He later revealed that he was dealing with alcohol abuse and had checked himself into rehab.

The 52-year-old Montgomery, who played college hockey at Maine, returned to the NHL in September 2020 as an assistant coach for the St. Louis Blues.

Leach, 42, was an assistant coach for the Seattle Kraken last season following a five-year career with the Providence Bruins. Leach was head coach of the P-Bruins for four seasons and compiled a 136-77-26 record, leading the team to the best record in the AHL Eastern Conference in 2019-20 before the season was canceled due to COVID.

Sacco, 53, has been on the Boston coaching staff since 2014. The BU alum and Medford native spent four years as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche from 2009-2013, where he racked up a 130-134-30 record and one playoff berth.

Carbery, 40, has been an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs since 2021.That came after a 10-year coaching run in the ECHL and OHL, plus a year on the Providence Bruins coaching staff in 2017. He was named head coach of the Hersey Bears of the AHL in 2018, a position that he held until joining the Toronto staff.

Quinn, 55, is a Boston University alum and spent time on Jack Parker's staff before taking over for the Hall of Fame coach in 2013. He spent five years on the BU bench and led the Terriers to a NCAA championship game, before being hired as head coach of the New York Rangers in 2018. Quinn spent three years on the Rangers bench, going 96-87-25 with one playoff berth, before being fired in 2021.