Bruins coaching search underway, brass promises return to playoffs after disappointing 2024-25 season
The brass of the Boston Bruins held court with reporters on Thursday, promising much better days are ahead for the franchise. After missing the playoffs for the first time in nine years, CEO Charlie Jacobs vowed the Bruins will still be playing hockey at this time next summer.
"We've spoken at great length about this: The team that we currently have, if healthy and with the additions we intend to make this summer, I anticipate that we'll have a playoff team and play meaningful hockey at this time of year in 2026," Jacobs told reporters Thursday morning.
"The results [last season] were absolutely unacceptable and accountability has never been higher," Jacobs added.
The Bruins struggled to get going early in the season and fired head coach Jim Montgomery 20 games into the campaign. The team had a quick jolt after interim head coach Joe Sacco took over, but fell off a cliff after Feb. 21 and held a fire sale at the trade deadline, dealing away team captain Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, and Charlie Coyle, among others. Boston finished the year 33-30-10 for just 76 points.
Despite a disastrous 2024-25 season, Jacobs expressed confidence and support for president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney, who will oversee the franchise's rebuild.
"We fell way short and it's disappointing for us," Neely said Thursday. "It's disappointing for our fan base. They deserve better. They've supported us for a hundred-plus years. This gives us an opportunity to regroup a little bit, reset and build back better."
Sweeney laid out a plan to rebuild the Bruins into a winner, and said adding more offensive pop is a priority, especially at wing. He also wants to see Boston's goaltending have a much stronger season in 2025-26 after Jeremy Swayman's disappointing campaign, and added the team's defense has to play much better in front of their netminders.
But the first order of business for the Bruins is to find a new head coach.
Bruins brass on head coaching search
Sweeney said there is no timeframe to find the franchise's 31st head coach, but Boston's search is already underway. He also added that Sacco will remain in the mix after his 24-30-6 stint as the interim head coach.
As for what he's looking for in head-coaching candidates, Sweeney said communication with players -- especially younger players -- is paramount. He also wants a head coach who can adapt on offense.
"I want a coach who's going to evolve a bit offensively. That's part and parcel with being able to communicate with sometimes younger players and their stubbornness and inexperience," Sweeney said Thursday.
While the Bruins need to catch up with the rest of the NHL offensively, Sweeney doesn't want the team to lose its defensive identity.
"The structure has to be there. It has to be part of the fabric of what a coach believes in, but I do understand that the players coming into the league are offensively driven, and they need to understand that it's OK to play with that offensive creativity," he said. "But it has to be within the confines of a team and a structure that dictates in order to be successful."
Sweeney said that "some form of NHL exposure" would be ideal for candidates, but it is not a requirement.
"If somebody blows you away, they blow you away," he said.
Don Sweeney's job security
Sweeney is heading into his 10th year as general manager of the Bruins, but confirmed that he isn't signed after next season. He said his lack of job security will not play into his decision-making this offseason.
"It's not going to have any bearing on the decisions. We had that same question at the deadline. It's irrelevant from the standpoint of the job that I'm going to try to do for the organization," said Sweeney.
Neely backed Sweeney as the man to lead the Bruins back to relevance, but also said no decision has been made on the general manager's long-term future.
"I've given it a lot of thought and I'm still contemplating what the best course of action is, but as I mentioned, I really feel like Don has done a good job here for the most part," he said. "Obviously the year that we had is a huge disappointment, and that falls on all of us, not just Don, that falls on all of us.
"I'll figure that out in the near future whether we're going to re-sign Don or not," Neely said. "But he's got another year."
This summer will be the fourth head-coaching search for Sweeney and Neely. Many fans are wondering why the duo are still making the calls after a disappointing season, but Jacobs gave them both a vote of confidence on Thursday.
"I think the shelf life of a head coach is significantly shorter than one of the general manager or a team president," Jacobs said when asked about Sweeney and Neely's job security. "It's the nature of the beast of the job. You can have players' attention for a select window of time, and then unfortunately, sometimes you lose it. It's Don's job to make sure he's got his hand on the pulse of whether or not the players tune him out, the head coach. And I feel he's done a pretty good job of measuring that."
If the accountability truly is higher than ever on Causeway Street, both Sweeney and Neely should be feeling a lot of heat coming from their respective seats all summer long.
