One of many off-season decisions facing Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney is who will be his next head coach. Interim coach Joe Sacco, a tag he has held since Sweeney fired Jim Montgomery back in November, will be in the mix, but you get the feeling that the right decision for Boston’s GM would be to hire from outside of the organization.
A new, fresh voice is what the Bruins need during a retool, and with each passing day, it seems like options are opening up. Last week, Sweeney made it clear that he wasn’t going to rush a decision for his next bench boss, but on Monday morning, an interesting option for the Black and Gold emerged.
Mike Sullivan and the Pittsburgh Penguins part ways. Is Boston up next?
You got the feeling that it was only a matter of time before Mike Sullivan and the Pittsburgh Penguins were going to part ways. That happened Monday morning when the two sides agreed to mutually part ways, making Sullivan a free agent. There are going to be a number of teams as potential suitors for him, including the Bruins.
While from the outside it looks like a good match between Sullivan and the Bruins, it might not be a layup as you may think. Bringing the Massachusetts native home to be the head coach of the Boston Bruins has some interesting situations to it. One of them is Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy, being Sullivan’s son-in-law. That may not be as big as some think, but it’s something that can’t be overlooked.
In terms of hockey, Sullivan is a proven winner, leading the Penguins to the Stanley Cup titles in 2015-16 and 2016-17. However, Pittsburgh has struggled the last number of years and with Sidney Crosby getting older, a rebuild is coming in the Steel City, and despite having term left on his contract, both sides parted ways.
Boston is not going to go through a rebuild, but a retool, which could be enticing to Sullivan. If not, then the New York Rangers would have a lot of interest in him and other teams like the Chicago Blackhawks can’t be overlooked. Regardless of what happens, a very intersting candidate to be the next Boston Bruins coach officially emerged Monday morning.