Jay Leach earned the chance to be one of the holdovers, along with Chris Kelly, from Jim Montgomery and Joe Sacco's coaching staff during the 2024-25 season. Marco Sturm brought in Steve Spott with him to form the new staff for the 2025-26 season, but according to David Pagnotta via The Sheet, Leach almost never made it on that staff.
Pagnotta revealed that Leach was in the running for a more prominent job last summer, and it wouldn't be surprising if the Toronto Maple Leafs gave him a look as a potential replacement for Craig Berube. Leach was also a candidate to be the Bruins' new head coach, but the organization ultimately decided to go with Sturm.
Leach has been with the Bruins for the past two seasons, but was with the organization from 2016 to 2021, spending four seasons as head coach of the Providence Bruins during that span. He was a name that was always kicked around in rumors for the promotion to Boston, but after getting the opportunity to join the Seattle Kraken's expansion as an assistant coach, he went there for three seasons.
Leach finally got the chance to join Boston's coaching staff for the 2024-25 season, but his duties as the defensive coach haven't gone overly well in those two seasons. The first season of his tenure was an all-around disaster, but the assistant coach did take some of the blame for the Bruins' defensive shortcomings. While Sturm did bring some defensive systems with him, Leach had to take some responsibility for the defense becoming the team's undoing in the playoffs.
The question after Pagotta's report is whether the Bruins would be better off with a different defensive coach. The Maple Leafs might see some value in adding a young coach for his first opportunity to lead a team, but Bruins fans wouldn't give him a glowing reference, given how things went this season.
Some Bruins fans might be happy to see another organization take Leach off their hands and get some fresh ideas into the coaches' room. If not, there's a good chance the much-maligned defensive system returns for the 2026-27 season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google