Things are not going well for the Boston Bruins early in the 2024-25 season, and they only managed to get worse on Tuesday night with a 4-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
That loss drops them to 6-7-1 on the season, and even worse than the record is the fact they simply do not look good in achieving that record.
It is enough to wonder if head coach Jim Montgomery could be on the hot seat. Or if his seat is at least getting a little bit warm.
That might seem like an overreaction to a slow start, especially since Montgomery is only in his third year with the Bruins and has been extremely successful in terms of the regular season.
In his first year, the Bruins tied an NHL record for regular season wins and won the Presidents’ Trophy with the league’s best record. Last season, they won 47 games and a playoff round.
Most coaches would be relative secure with that recent track record.
But NHL teams tend to have short leases with their coaches, especially when they are expectations. And the Bruins certainly have expectations. The problem is those expectations are for playoff success, and that is the one thing Montgomery has failed. Despite all of the regular season success the past two seasons, they have won just a single playoff series during that time, and were eliminated in the first round after winning that Presidents’ Trophy.
They also spent big money this offseason on free agents Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov.
With stars like David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman already in place, another step backwards was not going to be acceptable. Nor should it be.
Just a month into the season, they look to be taking another step backwards and it is difficult to see how it rapidly turns around.
The lack of a true No. 1 center, a declining defense and the departure of one of their top goalies (Linus Ullmark) might be too much to overcome in a really tough division and conference.
The NHL usually has an early season coaching change. Boston might be on the radar to be that team this season if things do not turn around rapidly.
