Boston Bruins

Zdeno Chara's 25-year NHL career will come to an end Tuesday.

Chara announced on Instagram he will sign a one-day contract with the Boston Bruins to officially retire with the team he spent the bulk of his career playing for.

Amid speculation about his future early in the offseason, Chara's agent, Matt Keator, told Matt Porter of the Boston Globe in June the 45-year-old was "going to take the summer with his family and assess where he's at physically, where his family's at, and make a decision in September."

A third-round draft pick by the New York Islanders in 1996, Chara made his NHL debut in 1997. He played for four different teams: the Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Bruins and Washington Capitals.

Chara was one of the best defensemen of his era. He made six All-Star appearances from 2003 to 2012, won the Norris Trophy in 2009 and won a Stanley Cup title with the Bruins in 2011.

After he spent 14 seasons in Boston from 2006 to 2020, the team informed him in his last year that he would not be re-signed. Chara decided to continue his playing career by signing a one-year contract with the Capitals.

However, he wasn't much of a factor with 10 points in 55 games. It was his lowest-scoring season since putting up nine points in 2000-01 with the Islanders.

The Isles brought Chara back on a one-year deal for the 2021-22 season.

Chara was named to the NHL's All-Decade second team for the 2010s. Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic wrote this about the Slovakian star when he was named to the outlet's All-Decade squad:

"His career high of 52 points did come in 2011-12, but that's not what puts Chara in this elite company. It was his innate ability to completely shut down opponents using his long stick, smart positioning and knowing how to toe the line. He was a problem other teams had to solve, and it led to the Bruins scoring 57 percent of the 5-on-5 goals while he was on the ice in the 2010's, a mark unmatched by any of the other five defenders listed here."

Chara's history as a defenseman who is capable of scoring made him an intimidating presence on the ice for more than two decades. He will almost certainly be inducted into the Hall of Fame as soon as he is eligible.

The Boston Bruins have finally found their replacement for Bruce Cassidy.

Boston is hiring former Dallas Stars head coach Jim Montgomery as its next bench boss, according to Joe McDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. The deal is expected to be in the neighborhood of three years and $2 million annually, per ESPN's Kevin Weekes.

Montgomery was one of three reported finalists for the job, joining former New York Rangers head coach David Quinn and Seattle Kraken assistant Jay Leach, who previously coached the Providence Bruins, Boston's AHL affiliate.

The 53-year-old will become just the third head coach to be hired by the Bruins since 2007. Claude Julien coached the franchise from 2007 to '17, leading Boston to a Stanley Cup title in 2011, and Bruce Cassidy led the team from 2017 to '22.

Montgomery was hired as head coach of the Stars for the 2018-19 season and led the team to a 43-32-7 finish and a berth in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, he was fired just 31 games into the 2019-20 campaign for "unprofessional conduct."

Montgomery revealed one month after he was fired that he had entered rehab for alcohol abuse, calling the loss of his job a "wake-up call."

Montgomery was hired as an assistant coach for the St. Louis Blues in September 2020 and served in the role over the last two seasons. With the Canadian assisting behind the bench, St. Louis reached the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

Montgomery also served as head coach at the University of Denver from 2013 to '18. Under his leadership, the Pioneers reached two Frozen Fours and won an NCAA championship in 2017.

He also played college hockey at the University of Maine and appeared in 122 NHL games from 1993 to 2002.

Montgomery has some big shoes to fill in Boston after the Black and Gold surprisingly fired Cassidy following a first-round playoff exit to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Cassidy served as head coach of the Bruins for six seasons, compiling a 245-108-46 record. He led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup playoffs in each of his six seasons behind the bench, including a Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2019.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said at the time of Cassidy's firing that he believed the team would benefit from a "new voice."

ESPN's John Buccigross later reported during a radio hit with WEEI's Merloni, Fauria & Mego that Cassidy's handling of the development of younger players and his relationship with those players likely played a role in his firing.

Buccigross said, as transcribed by WEEI's Scott McLaughlin:

“Bruce Cassidy as a coach, he’s respected, great X’s and O’s guy, knows how to game plan, how to beat the other team. It’s elite, obviously, the amount of games he won as the Bruins’ head coach. … But his communication skills and people managing, for some, have been difficult to deal with. Kind of a running commentary on the bench, which players sometimes hear and maybe they think, ‘Jeez, I wonder what he’s saying about me.’ It’s not uncommon.

“… It’s a delicate thing. The motivational tactics he uses, certainly really harsh, on young players especially. And that’s the part which, probably as the Bruins are looking to go forward with perhaps a younger core -- I don’t want to call it a rebuild -- but his voice I think was growing tired. I think players probably in the exit meetings, from what I was told, kind of voiced their opinion about him."

Throughout their head coaching search, the Bruins appeared to prioritize coaches that had a solid repertoire with younger players. So, it's no surprise that Montgomery, Leach and Quinn were the finalists given their experience with younger groups.

That said, Montgomery will be tasked with not only managing younger players in Boston, but some seasoned veterans in Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Hampus Lindholm, among others.

The Bruins still have a lot of work to do to improve the team for a Stanley Cup run in 2022-23, and hiring a new head coach is only the first step in the process.

NHL free agency begins on July 13.

It appears the Boston Bruins have two front-runners for their vacant head coaching position.

Former New York Rangers head coach David Quinn and Seattle Kraken assistant Jay Leach are the two leading candidates to replace Bruce Cassidy as head coach of the Black and Gold, according to The Athletic's Fluto Shinzawa.

Quinn is set to interview with the Bruins next week, and Leach is expected to interview with the franchise "at some time," Shinzawa added.

"Quinn has the personality that general manager Don Sweeney would prefer in his next coach: positive, engaging and uplifting," Shinzawa wrote. "Cassidy’s demanding style with his players, especially his younger ones, prompted Sweeney to fire him at his house on June 6."

Quinn was hired as head coach of the Rangers in 2018, leading the team to a 96-87-25 mark in three seasons and only one playoff appearance in 2020. The Blueshirts fired him in May 2021, replacing him with Gerard Gallant.

Before coaching the Rangers, the 55-year-old served as head coach of the Boston University men's hockey team, his alma mater where he coached current Bruins defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk. The Rhode Island native also recently served as head coach of Team USA at the 2022 Olympics, coaching another current Bruin in Marc McLaughlin.

Leach had served as an assistant to Mike Sullivan for the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2015 before being promoted to interim head coach after Sullivan was promoted as the next head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 42-year-old left the Penguins organization after just one season and joined the Providence Bruins, Boston's AHL affiliate, as an assistant in July 2016. The Providence College product was eventually promoted to head coach of the P-Bruins before the 2017-18 season.

With their experience coaching younger players, it's no surprise general manager Don Sweeney prefers a coach like Quinn or Leach.

Boston shockingly fired Cassidy on June 6 after a first-round playoff loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. The 57-year-old served as head coach of the Bruins for six seasons, compiling a 245-108-46 record.

Cassidy led the Bruins to the playoffs in each of his six seasons behind the bench, including a Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2019.

"After taking some time to fully digest everything, I felt that the direction of our team for both this season and beyond would benefit from a new voice," Sweeney said in a statement at the time.

Cassidy, who made his NHL head coaching debut with the Washington Capitals in 2002, was hired Tuesday as head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights.

Although Patrice Bergeron might have something to say about this, it sure looks like the Boston Bruins' window of contention has closed.

If it wasn't shut after the Bruins lost a seven-game series to the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs last month, then it was shut on Monday when general manager Don Sweeney fired coach Bruce Cassidy.

The move was met with a mix of anger, confusion and consternation from the fanbase and the local media, though team president Cam Neely had hinted at the possibility of making a coaching change a few weeks ago.

But the few weeks that passed led many to believe that Cassidy, a Jack Adams Award winner who led the Bruins to the 2019 Eastern Conference title, was safe.

"I just felt that the messaging and voice that was going to be required," Sweeney said Tuesday morning at a press conference at the club's practice facility. "I felt we needed a new direction."

The team was always going to be headed in a new direction regardless of who was behind the bench. Brad Marchand recently underwent hip surgeries and is expected to be out six months. Captain Patrice Bergeron's contract is up, and he may opt for retirement this summer.

Sweeney insisted that Bergeron did not have any influence on this decision.

"No, I’ve had multiple conversations with Patrice about this organization over the course of my time here. We continue to have them. He has too much respect for Bruce or for me, or for anybody, to make recommendations about who the coach is and who he’s going to play with," Sweeney said. "We went through the same thing with Claude [Julien] where he played and had a lot of success. It’s more out of respect. In my conversations with him yesterday, I did not ask whether this impacts his decision. It’s Bergy’s decision and his timeline."

Losing Bergeron, the 2021-22 Selke Trophy winner, would be a huge blow to the club, but it shouldn't be a shock. Last year, the Bruins lost center David Krejci and goalie Tuukka Rask. There was always a belief that one, if not both, would return, and Rask briefly did before ultimately deciding to retire. There are still persistent rumors that Krejci will return from playing in the Czech Republic, and Sweeney said he has had conversations with the Krejci camp, but even if that's the case, the roster still doesn't have the depth needed to compete in the Atlantic Division next season or in the future.

The Bruins proved to be a one-line team, and the "Perfection Line" itself may not even return. A new coach isn't going to fix that.

"The question looms for Bergeron," Sweeney said. "That’s the question in terms of when you’re talking about bringing back a similar type of roster, that he’s a big part of that and I still have to wait for that decision. I don’t have any clarity on that as I stand here today, so I’m not going to fully answer the question because I don’t have that answer as I sit. Now, we are going to take a shift, not unlike 2015, where we institute some younger players, and we have to continue to do a good job of that when they’re ready."

Pivoting to young players will only help if those young players are ready to contribute every night at the NHL level, and a team that has been in win-now mode like the Bruins isn't necessarily flush with prospects. With the exception of 23-year-old goalie Jeremy Swayman, the younger players on the NHL roster haven't necessarily shown they're ready to do that. Trent Frederic was a healthy scratch for three playoff games. Oskar Steen appeared in one game after February. The 25-year-old Jake DeBrusk was expected to struggle without Krejci as a linemate but had a bounce-back season with 25 goals and 42 points.

Nevertheless, questions surround DeBrusk's future. He asked for a trade early in the season, and, despite signing an extension at the trade deadline, there's still a possibility that the young forward will be dealt.

This leads us back to Cassidy and the front office. Neely said young players were scared to make mistakes under Cassidy, and while that may have been the case, development shortcomings cannot be placed on the head coach.

Player development requires processes to be in place, and resources have to be managed correctly. A club's inability to develop young talent is systemic. Unless some big transactions are made, the prospect pool isn't about to get much deeper. The club does not have a first-round or fifth-round pick in the upcoming 2022 draft and does not own a second-round pick next year.

Sweeney said he doesn't regret giving up those picks to trade for players like Hampus Lindholm at the trade deadline, and while he admits that he might like more picks, he stands by his decision to make that sacrifice. More sacrifices may have to be made to get younger because he can't keep the same roster and rebuild or retool. He can't have it both ways.

He also admitted that the bottom-six forwards were lacking when it came to speed, skill and toughness.

"I think it’s playing with a little bit more pace, and maybe that’s in the bottom six," he said. "I think we were well-equipped depth-wise, but when certain players go through their challenges, were other guys able to step up and be with the group? And that’s on me."

Sweeney is not wrong that the roster construction is on him. As the general manager, the roster is his responsibility. The coach can only do so much with the players he is given, and Cassidy got a lot from a top-heavy group.

Sweeney's job is safe. Neely said it a few weeks ago, and Tuesday morning Sweeney said he didn't anticipate a change in his employment status. Much of the blame can be placed on the front office, but they chose to place the blame on Cassidy.

Being a head coach in professional sports sometimes means being a pawn in the game of the executives above. It means being the fall guy when the plans don't turn out the way they were intended, and it means little, if any, long-term stability.

Cassidy became the fall guy, and now the Bruins look like they have no choice but to rebuild.

"I made the decision because I’ve been in the place where I hired Bruce six years ago, and the same person that stands here today and says, 'I need to make a change,'" Sweeney said. "As I referenced, the messaging, the direction and some of the things are not resonating as loudly as they did. That’s part of the exercise."

The Boston Bruins will be in the market for a new head coach this offseason.

The team announced Monday that Bruce Cassidy has been relieved of his head coaching duties after six seasons with the team, which included a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019.

"After 14 years working with Bruce, this was an extremely difficult decision. ... After taking some time to fully digest everything, I felt that the direction of our team for both this season and beyond would benefit from a new voice," Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said in the team's press release.

Boston finished fourth in the Atlantic Division this season with a 51-26-5 record but fell to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games in the first round of the playoffs. It was the team's sixth consecutive postseason appearance under Cassidy.

The Bruins face multiple questions this offseason, including the future of captain Patrice Bergeron. The 36-year-old veteran center is set to become an unrestricted free agent after declining to negotiate a contract extension during the season.

Bergeron still has a lot left in the tank, as he won the Selke Trophy for an NHL-record fifth time as the league's best defensive forward. He helped lead the Bruins to the Stanley Cup title in 2011 and two conference titles in 2013 and 2019.

In addition to Bergeron's uncertain future, Boston is also dealing with injuries to key players. Left winger Brad Marchand and defenseman Charlie McAvoy are both expected to be out for six months after undergoing recent surgeries. Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk will likely miss five months because of a shoulder procedure.

Boston Bruins star Patrice Bergeron underwent elbow surgery Tuesday.

Bergeron, fresh off winning the Selke Trophy for the fifth time, acknowledged the procedure will force him to think long and hard about his status for the 2022-23 NHL season.

"What [the surgery] did only is it just delayed my decision-making process," he told reporters. "I had some MRIs and meetings with them and talks with them about what I should do and whatnot. That's the only thing I can say about that."

The 36-year-old is due to hit free agency after his eight-year, $55 million contract expired with the end of this season.

Bergeron's Selke win is an illustration of how he continues to play at a reasonably high level given his age. He finished with 25 goals and 40 assists in the regular season and recorded seven points in Boston's first-round exit at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Bergeron explained how his contract status is a driving force behind his general uncertainty, per the Associated Press' Stephen Whyno:

"My whole career I’ve had contract extensions or I’ve had long-term contracts. I would head into the summers I guess with that in the back of my mind, meaning that I know what I’m doing next year and all that stuff. And now I’m 36 and I don’t have a contract and I can actually take a step back for the first time in my career, the first time in my life that I can just reflect on what I do want looking forward for the future."

Should he signal a desire to continue skating next year, Bergeron should have little trouble either re-signing with the Bruins or finding a new home. A player with his experience and resume would be an obvious target for a contending team that wants a short-term solution for its forward line.

Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron has won the 2021-22 Selke Trophy as the NHL's best defensive forward, it was announced Sunday.

He beat out Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers and Elias Lindholm of the Calgary Flames for the honor.

This marks the fifth time Bergeron has won the award, which is the most in NHL history. He was previously tied with former Montreal Canadiens forward Bob Gainey at four wins apiece.

This is also the 11th straight season in which the 36-year-old has been named a finalist for the award, which he last won in 2016-17.

Bergeron finished the 2021-22 season with 25 goals and 40 assists for 65 points in 73 games. He also led the NHL with 991 face-off wins and a 61.9 face-off win percentage, per Natural Stat Trick.

In addition, the Canadian led all forwards in puck possession (65.58). He also finished the season with 78 hits, 45 blocked shots and 37 takeaways.

Bergeron has been a staple in Boston's lineup since being selected in the second round of the 2003 NHL draft. He has tallied 400 goals and 582 assists for 982 points in 1,216 games across his 18-year career.

Besides being a five-time Selke winner, he also won the King Clancy Trophy in 2012-13 and the Mark Messier Trophy 2020-21, on top of leading the Bruins to a Stanley Cup victory in 2010-11.