The Boston Bruins may be in the market for another head coach this summer. In a wide-ranging article about the team’s season, Kevin Paul Dupont of The Boston Globe claims the Bruins will likely move on from Joe Sacco this offseason although they’ll want to keep him in a different role on the staff.
In his first head coaching role since his time with the Colorado Avalanche in the early 2010s, Saccos’ Bruins have managed a 22-22-6 record in 50 games. Boston shipped away significant pieces at the trade deadline and appeared poised for their first top 10 draft selection since picking Dougie Hamilton with the ninth overall pick in the 2011 NHL Draft.
Dupont believes Sacco’s future with the organization in a different role hinges on whether General Manager Don Sweeney and President Cam Neely retain their positions beyond this season. They want to reward Sacco’s loyalty to the organization for the last 11 years but there’s no guarantee they’ll be around to make that decision after a difficult season.
Other notes from the NHL’s Atlantic Division:
- Despite being acquired by the team two weeks ago, Brad Marchand has yet to debut with the Florida Panthers. It shouldn’t be too long as Tom Gulitti of NHL.com passed along a note from Panthers’ head coach Paul Maurice saying Marchand should only be a week away from returning. Florida has a light schedule throughout the next week so Marchand may only miss two or three more games. That would allow him to play in the Panthers’ final nine or 10 games of the regular season should his recovery process continue in the right direction.
- Moving back to eastern Massachusetts, Jim McBride of The Boston Globe reported that Bruins’ forward Mark Kastelic has returned to Boston due to an upper-body injury and will miss the rest of the team’s road trip. Given that their current road trip extends past next week, the news likely ends Kastelic’s availability for the rest of March. The bottom-six forward is enjoying the highest-scoring season of his career with five goals and 14 points in 61 games, leading to a three-year, $4.7MM extension with Boston in January.
- The Ottawa Senators could have an important right-handed defenseman back in the lineup tonight when they take on the New Jersey Devils. After missing the last three games with a lower-body injury, TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Nick Jensen has been elevated to a game-time decision. Jensen would be an important player to get back into the lineup as the Senators look to correct their two-game losing streak and keep pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Roster depth suffers key injury
The Bruins forward depth takes a hit with an injury and a former forward will retire at the end of the season.
Heading out on a five-game West Coast trip, the Boston Bruins called up forward Fabian Lysell from the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL) before they departed Tuesday afternoon. It's not surprising that they would bring an extra forward on the trip and it's a good thing they did.
After the gameday skate on Saturday in San Jose ahead of their game against the Sharks, it was announced that Lysell would be in the lineup on a line with Elias Lindholm and Marat Khusnutdinov. In a meeting with the media, interim coach Joe Sacco announced that bottom-six forward Mark Kastelic was returning to Boston after suffering an upper-body injury.
"Lysell's gonna start out on the Lindholm line,'' Sacco said. "Kasty went back to Boston, he's not gonna be here for the remainder of the trip. He's out with an upper-body injury."
This may not seem like a big loss, but Kastelic brings energy to the bottom of the lineup and signed an extension earlier this year. He'll join defenseman Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm out with injuries. It's just another obstacle in what feels like has been a season for them from the beginning.
