The Boston Bruins are one of a handful of NHL teams with a head coach vacancy this offseason. They fired Jim Montgomery early in the season, turning the keys over to Joe Sacco. Montgomery ended up leading the Blues to the playoffs while Sacco and the B’s finished last in the Atlantic Division. Now, the Bruins have targeted Rick Tocchet as their top head coaching candidate, even as the Flyers buzz heats up around him.
“If they can secure an interview with him, and yeah, they’re trying, he becomes their top target,” a source told James Murphy of RG.org. Vancouver radio host Rick Dhaliwal also indicated a connection between Tocchet and the Bruins. “Boston is a club. …I’ve been saying about Boston, keep an eye on the Bruins.”
Much has been made about the connection between the Flyers and Tocchet this offseason. He is close with the President of Hockey Operations, Keith Jones, and played 621 games for the franchise. But Tocchet also played for the Bruins, wearing the Spoked B 67 times from 1996-97.
The Canucks did not pick up the option on Tocchet’s contract with the intention of negotiating a long-term contract. That did not work out, and they have a head coaching vacancy of their own now. The Rangers were the first team to fill their coaching vacancy with Mike Sullivan. And the Ducks have reportedly filled their opening with Joel Quenneville.
Bruins president gets brutally honest on Joe Sacco’s future
Bruins president Cam Neely spoke about interim head coach Joe Sacco recently as the team navigates a brutal 2024-25 season.
The Boston Bruins named Joe Sacco interim head coach back in November. The Bruins fired Jim Montgomery, believing they needed a new voice in the locker room following a poor start. Unfortunately, things have not gone well for Boston under Sacco's watch. The Bruins are near the bottom of the Eastern Conference and are likely to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This has brought Sacco's future into question. Some advocate for the Bruins to keep their interim coach and allow him to take the job on a full-time basis. Others, though, believe the franchise needs to go in a different direction behind the bench.
Bruins president Cam Neely addressed his interim coach in a recent interview. The former Boston star player mentioned that Sacco “will be in the mix” for the full-time role this offseason. And he acknowledged the job the interim coach has done to this point in the season.
“I mentioned to the whole coaching staff recently that Don and I certainly appreciate the job that they’re doing. It hasn’t been easy for them,” Neely said, via Boston Globe reporter Jim McBride. “Again, it’s something we’re not really accustomed to here. We’re usually playing games, meaningful games, at this time of the year and getting ready for playoffs, and I think Joe stepped in and early on we were playing very well. We had a pretty good record and then we just stopped playing the way we should play for a stretch there and it really hurt us, but not the easiest situation for Joe to come in. But he’s handled it very well.”
Cam Neely discusses potential Bruins rebuild
The Bruins made significant trades at the deadline back on March 7th. The biggest trade made involved Brad Marchand being dealt to the Florida Panthers. Marchand made an instant impact in his Panthers debut on Friday night.
Boston selling at the NHL Trade Deadline is certainly an unusual sight to see. However, it does not appear as if a full, tear-it-down-to-the-studs rebuild is incoming. Neely believes there are valuable pieces on this roster that can be quickly built around.
“I don’t think we need to really strip this down,” Neely told McBride. “We moved some significant pieces, obviously, at the deadline. Hopefully we can replace some of those pieces and get us back to where we want to be, which is competing for Stanley Cups, being a team that has a chance to win everything.”
The Bruins currently own a record of 30-35-9 record, good for 69 points. They are eight points back of the Montreal Canadiens for the final Wild Card spot in the East. Boston returns to the ice on Tuesday when they play host to the East-leading Washington Capitals.
That leaves Tocchet as one of the top candidates on the coaching market. He led the Canucks to a playoff appearance and series win last year and had everything go wrong this year. The Bruins are looking to power out of a year where everything went wrong. Bringing in a proven coach with franchise connections could be the right move.
Tocchet is returning to the TNT intermission squad this weekend.
