Boston Herald Jim Montgomery still bullish on the Bruins

[RoccoF14]

High Noon for Sunny Jim? (That's me, not the podcast).

As noted previously, imho, Jim Montgomery is ultimately responsible for 90% of first round playoff debacle against FLA.

If you want chapter and verse, please see past posts on the subject. Unfortunately, the list is a long one.

Whatever one thinks of him, Mike Milbury makes a fair point.

Sunny Jim's calling card has been, if you will, the white hat. At some point, the black hat may be necessary. Given what little I've gathered, I'm not certain he's capable of credibly making that switch.

This may simply be who JM is, and he may find ways to spur his horses to victory with a pat on the head rather than a kick in the ass.

Genuine adversity is calling this season and going forward. Montgomery has had success at every level, and I can't imagine all of those teams fired on all cylinders, as the impossibly successful regular season Bruins did in 2022-23.

Surely, JM has confronted bad play and sorry streaks before, and presumably understands how to meet them.

Montgomery deserves another opportunity and I sincerely hope has learned from his mistakes. I am not certain his latest remarks affirm this.

To the point, pick up @ 21:15,

....but didn't we fire our last coach because he was a dick and the players hated him?

 

[neelynugs]

With all due respect, and I have a ton of it for you as a poster, I don't understand the hesitancy. I never really loved Kelly all that much as a player, but his playing career has little to do with his eventual success as a coach. If a former player's position/role were reliably predictive of their success coaching an NHL PP, the positions would be populated entirely by QBing defensemen. They're the ones with the most touches, the ones that move the most to change angles. And Kelly played PP in lower levels, while also having perspective as an excellent NHL PKer.

The success of a PP assistant is pretty much entirely constrained by personnel and, to a lesser extent, the head coach. Agile thinking and bilateral respect with the HC can probably make an assistant shine a bit, but even then, you aren't getting far without the horses.

Just poll HFBoards users whether their PP coach is above average or a drooling cretin. I'd guess 80% vote the latter. Our own HC was brought in to fix St. Louis's PP, but a staggering number of Bruins fans believe he needs someone who knows the deep secrets of 5-on-4 lore to right the ship.

If McAvoy could shoot, it would be better. If Marchand's hip improves without him hitting the wall, it will be better. I don't think having Chris Kelly or Marc Savard or Paul Coffey would make much of a difference in the grand scheme.

fair point, i was half kidding but shouldn't have dismissed chris so quickly - and you're right, the PP will likely succeed or fail based on personnel.

 

[GordonHowe]

....but didn't we fire our last coach because he was a dick and the players hated him?

First, Cassidy wasn't a dick. Second, he got along pretty well with veterans who met his demanding expectations and largely left the room alone. Third, he said what he meant and meant what he said. He was perhaps too frank in his public assessment of the club's performance, which can (and did) get a coach in trouble.

Fourth, Cassidy is an excellent coach and now he has a Cup to prove it. Bergeron predicted that outcome, by the way.

Jim Montgomery has his own style, which has proven successful at every level. He's a very good coach who understands how to communicate with players, especially the younger ones. As I noted in my previous post, I can't imagine Montgomery hasn't experienced adversity as a head coach, and surely has techniques to address it.

Inevitably, the coming season will prove more difficult than last year's charmed, adversity-free regular season.

There's a lot more to sort out and deal with, and I think that's a good thing for JM's development.

We're going to see how Montgomery handles the valleys as well as the peaks. Most importantly, should the Bruins make the playoffs, we're going to see if Jim has learned from his many costly mistakes in the FLA series.

To reference Milbury's "white hat, black hat" comment (see previous), I'm not at all certain "Sunny Jim" knows how to wear which hat at the proper time. I'm not even certain he owns a black hat.

This could spell trouble. A pat on the head can certainly work with today's players. But what if it doesn't? What then?

The best coaches can be jerks, but most of them know how to wield both carrot and stick. They don't care if players like them or not. All they care about is winning, because ultimately, that's the litmus test and the difference between keeping their job or losing it.

Again, given his comments immediately after the series and most recently -- in which he seemingly failed to acknowledge several glaring miscalculations and blunders -- I wonder if Jim Montgomery has learned any lessons.

We'll see.

21:15,

 

[DominicT]

fair point, i was half kidding but shouldn't have dismissed chris so quickly - and you're right, the PP will likely succeed or fail based on personnel.

Interestingly enough, Kelly's teams, until he got traded to Boston, were consistently in the top one-third in powerplay efficiency.

Now, he may not have been a part of those powerplays, but he got to see first hand how to coach a successful powerplay.

 

[4ORRBRUIN]

First, Cassidy wasn't a dick. Second, he got along pretty well with veterans who met his demanding expectations and largely left the room alone. Third, he said what he meant and meant what he said. He was perhaps too frank in his public assessment of the club's performance, which can (and did) get a coach in trouble.

Fourth, Cassidy is an excellent coach and now he has a Cup to prove it. Bergeron predicted that outcome, by the way.

Jim Montgomery has his own style, which has proven successful at every level. He's a very good coach who understands how to communicate with players, especially the younger ones. As I noted in my previous post, I can't imagine Montgomery hasn't experienced adversity as a head coach, and surely has techniques to address it.

Inevitably, the coming season will prove more difficult than last year's charmed, adversity-free regular season.

There's a lot more to sort out and deal with, and I think that's a good thing for JM's development.

We're going to see how Montgomery handles the valleys as well as the peaks. Most importantly, should the Bruins make the playoffs, we're going to see if Jim has learned from his many costly mistakes in the FLA series.

To reference Milbury's "white hat, black hat" comment (see previous), I'm not at all certain "Sunny Jim" knows how to wear which hat at the proper time. I'm not even certain he has a black hat.

This could spell trouble. A pat on the head can certainly work with today's players. But what if it doesn't? What then?

The best coaches can be jerks, but most of them know how to wield both carrot and stick. They don't care if players like them or not. All they care about is winning, because ultimately, that's the litmus test and the difference between keeping their job or losing it.

Again, given his comments immediately after the series and most recently -- in which he seemingly failed to acknowledge several glaring miscalculations and blunders -- I wonder if any lessons have been learned.

We'll see.

21:15,

If the season falls off the rails fast my guess he will be gone in a second. Shocked he wasn't let go after the season ended to be honest.

Kelly will be the next in line

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

If the season falls off the rails fast my guess he will be gone in a second. Shocked he wasn't let go after the season ended to be honest.

Kelly will be the next in line

Shocked? Really?

 

[4ORRBRUIN]

Shocked? Really?

I wouldn't lie to you

 

[PlayMakers]

Interestingly enough, Kelly's teams, until he got traded to Boston, were consistently in the top one-third in powerplay efficiency.

Now, he may not have been a part of those powerplays, but he got to see first hand how to coach a successful powerplay.

I'm sure Kelly learned a lot about PP's from being an elite penalty killer too. How much time has he spent disecting PP's, learning the different setups, all the angles and lanes. Even if he was doing it to learn how to shut them down, he was still learning how they work, what works, what doesn't...

 

[KnightofBoston]

Shocked? Really?

Well, it’s what they would do, so, naturally

You’re right guys it’d be better if Monty was moping around accepting his fate