Monty, Bruins "in talks" about new deal
Montgomery headed into a season with high expectations & currently in search of a new contract with the Boston Bruins. Interesting scenario to watch unfold
BRIGHTON, MA – While the Jeremy Swayman absence was obviously making the biggest stir on the first day of Boston Bruins training camp, there was other news coming out of Don Sweeney and Jim Montgomery facing the media for the first time after a summer away from the hockey grind.
The biggest news nugget outside of Sweeney calling “bullshit” on Spittin’ Chiclets rumors that he was incommunicative with Swayman and his camp was that the Bruins and Montgomery have been talking about a new contract for the B’s bench boss. It’s believed that Montgomery signed a three-year deal when he was first hired for the head job in Boston, and that would mean he’s entering the final year of his current contract entering the 2024-25 NHL season.
It would make Montgomery a lame duck during the season if he doesn’t sign a contract and that would make it a bit more challenging for a Black and Gold group already facing high expectations this season after bringing in high profile guys like Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov to a group that was already playoff-caliber last season.
That being said, Montgomery claimed it wasn’t going to change the way he coaches even if he goes into the year without concrete job security beyond this season.
“I don’t think it would affect me, just being honest. I love being a Bruin, I think I'm very fortunate to be a head coach of the Boston Bruins and my focus when I am the Boston Bruins [coach] is staying in the present and just getting better every day,” said Montgomery. “I know it sounds cliché, but I can't allow myself to think about the future because I'd be a little bit of a hypocrite.
“I'm asking our players to always stay in the moment. I have to stay in the moment [too]. So that's the way I look at things. Doesn't matter if I had an eight-year contract or a one-day contract. That's the way I proceed. That's my process.”
Don’t expect things to go public between Montgomery and the Bruins the way it has with Swayman, something that Sweeney alluded to while getting visibly irate talking about the negotiations with his RFA goalie on Wednesday afternoon at Warrior Ice Arena.
“There have been talks,” confirmed Sweeney. “I think Monty will, I'm not going to speak for him, but I'm going to guess that he'll take Brad's line of, you know, keeping that between us. Yeah, there have been talks of an extension.”
Interesting timing, of course, as the Bruins bumped Joe Sacco to associate head coach this summer and brought in assistant coach Jay Leach, who was considered for the B’s head job a couple of years ago when they ultimately hired Montgomery instead. There’s also assistant coach Chris Kelly on staff with Montgomery as well as a potential head-coach-in-the-making on the staff, so there is no shortage of in-house replacements – assuming Montgomery has not signed an extension prior to the start of the regular season -- should things begin to go sideways during the regular season.
With a record of 112-32-20, Jim Montgomery actually holds the highest points percentage (.740) of any coach in Bruins franchise history after two very strong regular seasons, so there is a very strong argument to be made that the B’s should lock up their bench boss as soon as possible. Then again there’s been an accurate feeling that the Bruins have underachieved in the Stanley Cup playoffs over the last couple of years, and that could be factored into Boston management taking a wait-and-see approach headed into this year to see how things go with this particular group of players and elevated expectations.
It's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out should the current contract talks between Montgomery and the Bruins spill over into the regular season without any firm resolution in the form of a contract.