There is just over a week remaining in the 2025-26 regular season in the NHL, and playoff races are heating up and heating up fast. You could say that jobs are on the line for players, coaches, and front office personnel.
That has been the case every year, but this year is different in terms of clubs making moves with less than two weeks remaining in the season. First, former Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy was fired two weeks ago and replaced by John Tortorella. Then on Sunday, the New York Islanders fired coach Patrick Roy and replaced him with Peter DeBoer, who got a three-year contract.
As far as front office personnel goes, Last week, the Toronto Maple Leafs fired general manager Brad Treliving. On Monday night, Emily Kaplan of ESPN reported that the New Jersey Devils are parting ways with GM Tom Fitzgerald.
Those last two moves are bad news for Bruins GM Don Sweeney. Why? Well, those two were completely fleeced by Sweeney in recent trades. Treliving was the most recent fleecing last March when Sweeney sent Carlo to the Leafs for Fraser Minten, a top-5 protected 2026 first-round draft pick and a fourth-round draft pick last June.
As for Fitzgerald, Sweeeny fleeced him four years ago when he sent Erik Haula to New Jersey for Pavel Zacha. Bottom line: Don't get fleeced by Don Sweeney, it will get you fired.
Marco Sturm pleased with Bruins getting a point against Flyers
The Bruins will close out their four-game road trip on Tuesday night when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes. As far as they're concerned, this trip can't end quickly enough. They started it out with a 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers, then two nights later, they took a 1-0 lead into the third period against the Tampa Bay Lightning and allowed three goals in a 3-1 loss.
They faced a brutal back-to-back on Sunday afternoon against the Philadelphia Flyers. After allowing a goal on the Flyers' first shot of the game, the Bruins tied the game in the third period on a power play goal from Zacha. Head coach Marco Sturm was happy his team picked up a key point in the playoff race.
"A huge point for us," Sturm said. "Guys battled back. We wanted to have a power-play goal in the third, and we did. 'Korpi' made some great saves. Unfortunate there in OT, but we'll definitely take that point."
Points are are valuable over the next week-plus.
Marco Sturm reunites top line
Sturm is trying to find offense, anyone he can. Against Philadelphia, he moved the struggling Morgan Geekie to the top line with Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak. It didn't lead to any goals as Geekie's scoreless streak reached 17 games, and they were on the ice for the Flyers' first-period goal.
“I think that was the biggest point,” said Sturm. “This is the time now. This is the time to show up. So we wanted to give him another shot.”
For one night, it didn't work.