The Boston Bruins have some legendary coaches in their history, but the past decade features a bit of an infamous run of coach firings, headlined by a bunch of roster players who may not have been able to take some of the tough love approach that the coaches employed.
Sometimes a coach's time is up, but it rubs a bit of salt in the wound when a fired coach goes on to immediate success for their next organization. In some instances, a coach's history with the team seemed to be thrown to the side by the shiny new toy. Nevertheless, there have been some disappointing and puzzling firings in Bruins history.
Don Cherry
Don Cherry was later best known for his Coach's Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada, but people outside of Boston forget how good he was as a head coach. Grapes owned a 231-105-64 record behind the bench with the Bruins and took the team to two Stanley Cup Finals, where he came up short.
It ended up working out for Cherry, as he might not have gotten the HNIC opportunity if his coaching career hadn't gone the way it did. However, the controversial end to his tenure left a lot of sour tastes in people's mouths in the city.
Rick Bowness
Rick Bowness was fired from the organization after just one season, despite taking the team to the Wales Conference Finals. The Bruins' front office had some regrets early in Bowness' tenure, but his run ultimately led to the team keeping him around through the playoffs.
The Bruins didn't believe he had the correct qualities to be a head coach, something he is still proving wrong 34 years later.
Claude Julien
Claude Julien was one of the Bruins' best coaches of all-time, winning the Stanley Cup in 2011, reaching the finals in 2013, and winning the Presidents' Trophy in 2014. The Bruins' run of success ended with back-to-back seasons of missing the playoffs in 2015 and 2016, but they bounced back with a 26-23-6 record midway through 2017.
The front office still believed his message had run stale, which then led to them firing him and bringing in Bruce Cassidy, who ended up being one of the franchise's most successful coaches. While the move paid off, the circumstances surrounding Julien's firing were a sign of things to come.
Bruce Cassidy
It's still hard to believe that the Bruins got rid of Cassidy when they did, but the head coach was a victim of some players not being able to handle his in-your-face coaching style. Cassidy owned a 245-108-46 record with Boston and came a win away from a Stanley Cup in 2019. However, the front office again argued the need for a new voice in 2022.
Despite Jim Montgomery's success in 2022-23, Cassidy went on to win a Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights that season, sticking one more dagger in the hearts of Bruins fans after his departure.
Jim Montgomery
Montgomery was another coach who had plenty of success after the Bruins fired him, winning the Jack Adams Award after just half a season with the St. Louis Blues. Montgomery's Bruins tenure included a 120-41-3 record after that record-breaking 2022-23 season, but an 8-9-3 start in 2024-25 was the end of his tenure.
As Joe Sacco quickly learned that season, it wasn't a coaching issue with that year's roster.
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