Former NHL Player Throws Bruins Front Office Under the Bus for Jim Montgomery Firing

Former NHL player John Scott throws the blame at two people for Jim Montgomery's firing.

Tuesday afternoon, Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney and team President Cam Neely announced that they were firing head coach Jim Montgomery after two-plus seasons. It wasn't surprising that it happened after the Bruins' 8-9-3 start to the 2024-25 season.

This early in the season, firing the head coach was the only real choice that the Bruins front office had as making a roster-shifting trade was unlikely. Joe Sacco was named interim head coach and in charge of getting an underachieving team to turn things around before it's too late.

Just like when Sweeney and Neely fired Bruce Cassidy two years ago, it likely won't take Montgomery long to find another job in the NHL. There are a handful of teams who hire him in a second and he'll land back on his feet sooner rather than later. The firing of the former Jack Adams Award winner has been a topic around the hockey world for 24 hours and one former player pointed the blame for it.

Former NHL player John Scott blames the front office for Jim Montgomery's firing

On the Dropping the Gloves podcast hosted by former NHL player John Scott and Tim Dubya, Scott pointed the finger at Sweeney and Neely for Montgomery being fired. To be honest, he's correct as Montgomery is not the one who put the roster together this off-season, handing out money to Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, who both have been a disappointment so far.

On social media, he followed up by saying the NHL had a problem with former players getting front-office positions, given the keys to run things and underdeliver. That certainly is the case with Sweeney and Neely, again. This isn't the first coach that they have fired. The coaches are not putting the roster together and when it is put together and underachieves, unfortunately, the coach goes. That was the case with Montgomery, while Sweeney and Neely survive, for now.