32 Thoughts: Why the Bruins fired Jim Montgomery and what’s next

• The type of forwards coveted by contenders on the trade market
• Why Auston Matthews went to Germany for a second opinion
• Where the salary cap could go from here

At the end of Columbus’ 5-1 win over Boston on Monday, you couldn’t help but wince and think, “That’s a game that gets a coach fired.”

Several GMs have said over time that one thing they look for is pushback. When things go badly for your team, do your players push back? Win or lose, do they compete hard to reverse the momentum? For all of its injury insanity, Colorado scratched and clawed through it. On the same day Vancouver learned JT Miller needed a mental re-set, the Canucks battled hard even in defeat against the Rangers.

Three weekends ago, the Bruins shut out Philadelphia and Seattle back-to-back. The five-alarm blaze, doused.

Not so fast.

“They couldn’t maintain it,” GM Don Sweeney said Wednesday. “We had a 2-1 game in Dallas…First shot goes in, but you battle back, you’re in a 2-1 hockey game. And all of a sudden, bang. Three goals. That’s part of the things that bother me as a general manager, where our team can’t stay as close-knit as they’ve been, they can’t get through the adversity within a game and they can’t respond from game-to-game.”

Sweeney confirmed one thing about Jim Montgomery: that the Bruins and their ex-coach — in the final season of his contract — engaged in failed extension conversations. Maybe we will never know the full story, but there are people who believe he was unsure about Boston even before they were unsure about him. 

Maybe there’s somewhere else Montgomery saw promise. He will have other opportunities. Highly regarded, his teams have 393 points in 298 NHL games. 

Sweeney likes Joe Sacco, now the interim head coach. He interviewed for the Boston job when Montgomery got it. Moving from assistant to big boss on the same team is not easy. You go from good cop to bad cop, and players see through phoniness. But Ryan Huska’s nicely walking that line in Calgary, so it isn’t impossible.

“There’s a lot of guys underperforming,” Sacco said. “We’re gonna pull it out of them.”

Bruins haters were casting spells or mixing elixirs for years, wishing the demise of this long-time power. That’s premature. You discount this group at your own peril. But, it’s fair to wonder if Boston was dragged kicking and screaming into a new era. This was rarely a “noisy” team. Private and relatively simple contract discussions became public and contentious not just in one case, but several. The organization held a line, since broken, on their top salaries. (That’s not a complaint, everyone is entitled to negotiate for what they desire.)

There’s an identity change, inevitable once Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron left. Maybe that’s the difference, as much as anything else. These “new” Bruins are figuring out who they are minus a Hall-of-Fame number-one defenceman and a Hall-of-Fame number-one centre. 

The players have discussed their need to ignore the noise and focus on what matters — winning games.

“From a personnel standpoint, from the players’ standpoint, they have to understand they’re not where they need to be,” Sweeney said. “We’re either going to get back there. Or there are going to be continued changes across the board.”

He recognizes the spotlight also shines in his face: “You’re always on notice in this league.”

The Bruins remain very much in playoff position. By making the change now, Sweeney’s gambling Sacco can walk in, say, “Fresh start.” Everyone can wake up like Victoria Principal in Dallas and thank God it was only a bad dream. 

More from Sportsnet

Minten, Grebenkin shine as Maple Leafs prevail through Knies injury

How Bruins’ increased dependence on star power led to Montgomery’s demise

32 THOUGHTS

1. Sacco was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award after his first season in Colorado (2009-10). An Avalanche player from then laughed recalling one story: While in Las Vegas for the ceremony, Sacco saw Sidney Crosby at the gym at 6:00 am, so he asked some of his best players what they were doing at the same time.

2. It’s not a surprise, but we’re already hearing that forwards with “an edge” will be coveted by contenders. So, when the Bruins are being scouted, that’s Trent Frederic. Obviously, his as-yet-undetermined contract status looms large. There was some Morgan Geekie talk, but that may have been when he was out of the lineup. Teams generally understand that if someone in the final season of his contract is not in their plans, they should find that player another situation. 

3. Weird idea that may only make sense to me: Nikita Zadorov back to Vancouver. No idea if even possible, or if anyone would want it, but he was a good fit and the Canucks miss him.

4. Player-team that seem a match: Morgan Frost and Chicago. Frost didn’t play Wednesday against Carolina, the fourth game of the last five he’s watched from the press box. He’s not a complainer, prefers to keep any displeasure behind closed doors, but players want to play. Obviously, any dance needs partners who deal, but the Blackhawks, in dire need of centres, are one team that makes sense for him.

5. Nashville’s three first-round picks in 2025 (Tampa Bay and Vegas, in addition to its own) are coveted by teams they talk to, but GM Barry Trotz so far shows no indication to move them. In addition to a centre, he’s also looking for a top four defender with a bit of term.

6. The teams that are looking hard at centres now — including Chicago and Nashville — have to weigh when others wade into the market. One of those will be Toronto, for sure. The Blackhawks and Predators have the advantage of more cap space/high picks to trade, and more of a willingness to do it at this time. But as the season continues and cap-strapped teams try to build space, competition will increase. 

7. Other notes down the middle: What complicates Christian Dvorak’s situation is he’s got too good a salary in 2024-25 — $5.75M ($4.45M cap hit). When that comes down as the season progresses, we will see where things stand.

8. Yanni Gourde is an interesting one. His production is down, his ice-time is down, but the Kraken organization loves him. Even as things haven’t gone great for him, it hasn’t diminished how they feel. Ultimately, both sides have to agree if this UFA-to-be marriage will continue, but, at this time, there’s no indication of a divorce.

9. For God’s sake, leave Jack McBain alone. He’s mortified and that was an accident.

10. The word that created the most panic in this week’s Auston Matthews news was “Germany.” As one person laughed, “If he was getting the same treatment in Hamilton, Niagara Falls or Oakville, no one would care. But, because it’s Germany, people are freaking out.”

The hockey world hasn’t seen it as much, but Kobe Bryant started the trend among North Americans. Christian McCaffrey did it this season in dealing with his Achilles problem. Usain Bolt did it years ago, along with a long list of soccer players. (Reportedly, LeBron James, too, but I couldn’t find proof.) Why? First, he clearly trusts whoever he’s seeing there. Second, treatments not available in North America these athletes swear by. The thing I always use as my guide is this: do people sound panicked about this injury? The answer in this case, is “no.” Sounds like the goal is for Matthews to play next Wednesday in Florida.

11. One of the things that’s changed in the NHL — for the better — is since Jack Eichel’s situation in Buffalo, players and teams (including the Sabres) have worked harder to understand each other when it comes to second and third opinions. I assume there are disagreements from time to time, but several players say the overall situation is much-improved.   

12. Related to this: I don’t think there’s an issue players and fans/media disagree on more than injury reporting. In theory, if we’re going to be all-in on gambling, we should be more transparent. But, I recognize that NHLers hate the idea of greater transparency with the passion of 1,000 burning suns. Their arguments are fair, ranging from: “Its private, none of your business” to “I’m going to get targeted if opponents know.” Rarely do players get angrier about anything than poking around injuries — even though the bigger the name and the longer the absence, the more media is going to look into it. As a result, I don’t expect anything to change beyond “upper-body, lower body” if an NHLer feels strongly about it. 

13. Wishing JT Miller the best; don’t expect to see him until the Canucks return from a six-game road trip ending Dec. 3 at the earliest. It appears as if this is as much about “burnout” as anything else for one of the NHL’s most fiery players. 

14. Written before about how Toronto swatted away all requests for goalie Dennis Hildeby last season. North American newcomer Artur Akhtyamov’s allowed 12 goals in his first six AHL games. They’re going to be asked about their plans at this position. Meanwhile, Nikita Grebenkin had an impressive NHL debut Wednesday night. When he was sent down at the end of training camp, they knew he’d be coming back. Maybe not this quickly, but no one felt he needed too much time.

15. Hockey Central hosts Matt Marchese and Mike Futa asked if US-born Joey Daccord could play for Team Canada. His father is Canadian. Even more interesting: his mother is Swiss, and that country’s asked about his Olympic availability. As of Tuesday, Team Canada had not asked the NHL about using him in the 4 Nations. For that tournament, it would depend on which passport he carries. Good question, though.

16. Okay, next year’s cap. As Commissioner Gary Bettman pointed out Tuesday, these conversations haven’t happened yet. But they are going to. And, as I always say about these things: we’ll see. Part of what’s happening here is good news for the NHL. Business is strong.

Think about where everyone was four years ago. We had no idea what the world was going to look like. The players had a choice in that 2020 CBA: keep escrow down or pay back what was owed to the owners, sooner. They despise escrow, so they chose option A — as the 50/50 revenue split was erased from existence. Now, the Lightning were just sold for close to $2 billion, CNBC’s Mike Ozanian estimated Wednesday the average team is worth $1.92 billion, and “recent transactions come at revenue multiples that rival deals done in Major League Baseball.”

17. More expansion is likely, if not guaranteed. Some of this is the union listening to Bettman’s own verbiage. Before the 2022 Stanley Cup, he said revenues would surpass the pre-COVID number ($5.2 billion to $4.6 billion). March 2023: “We’re back from COVID really strong. Our revenues are approaching the $6-billion range and they’re at an all-time high. Attendance is strong, TV and media revenues are strong, sponsorship support is great…When we started this (in 2020), there was a lot of skepticism of how the billion-and-a-half dollars would be repaid, but the fact is we’re in the home stretch on that and if it’s not this year, it’ll be next year, which is sooner by a year or two at least than we had initially projected when we entered into the extension of the CBA.” Stanley Cup 2024, announcing the salary cap would jump by $4.5 million, the most since 2018-19: “It’s great to see. I know the general managers and the teams are excited to have more flexibility, which means that the revenues are as robust as we’ve been telling you all along.”

18. Using the 50-50 split that existed prior to COVID, the cap could have been in the mid-90s right now, and even higher next season. Next season’s cap is currently set for a maximum of $92.5 million, although both sides can agree to move. (For example, the two sides agreed on a $300,000 rise this season to get to $88 million flat.) If there is no adjustment next year, we could see a major jump from 2025-26 to 2026-27.

This happened in the NBA in 2016, when the union rejected a “smoothing” proposal, leading to a record $24 million jump, allowing Golden State to sign Kevin Durant. The players ended up hating that as much as the league did, and the new CBA limits increases to 10 per cent. At the very least, there’s going to be a conversation about whether or not the NHL wants the same kind of record leap, and if not, how to “smooth” it.

19. There was plenty of feedback after we mentioned it on Hockey Night in Canada and the podcast, including a classic “are you sure you know what you are talking about?” from one executive. As was pointed out, I’m assuming there will be a return to a percentage split in the new agreement (yes I am, we will see if there’s any stomach to try and change the percentages) and that this will be a relatively peaceful negotiation (there’s nothing worth a strike or a lockout).

20. Other issues presented to me: a few players and agents worried that it was too early to present this scenario to the group — don’t count your chickens until they’ve hatched — while a couple of governors wondered how many teams could really handle a $110M cap and how much more revenue they could squeeze from their buildings. (Wednesday on CNBC, Bettman discussed upcoming Canadian media rights, saying the league’s triggered a 60-day window to negotiate with Rogers. It opens Jan. 1.) Several sources — knowing the players’ hatred of escrow — asked if they’d truly risk such big salary cap jumps. Escrow got as high as 22 per cent in the past, no way they’d want to go back there. So there’s a lot to unpack. But it’s a conversation that will come as part of CBA discussions. 

21. Kyle and I interviewed CHL President Dan MacKenzie on the pod last week. The NCAA rule change remains a developing story sucking the most oxygen. One of the things I was most curious about is that the various Canadian commissioners’ statements indicated they expected players to “fulfil” their commitments through age 19 to their teams. Is that even enforceable?

“All players who play in the CHL today have made certain commitments to their teams,” MacKenzie said. “And in return, those teams have made commitments to those players. So, I mean, our teams are going to honour those commitments. And the expectation is players will as well.”

MacKenzie added he thinks very few players would want to leave early due to the “pro-like” schedule and the fact that, in the CHL, older guys lead the way on their teams. It’s clear the three leagues are trying to establish this mentality as quick as they can. Kyle followed with a critical question: could he see a scenario where players who go to the NCAA after graduating high school forego their scholarship opportunities earned through the CHL?

“I haven’t been part of any discussions so far that have talked about changing anything on the scholarship front at this point,” MacKenzie answered. “But again, we haven’t dug too deeply into all the implications and the scenarios that would happen…So we need a bit more time to determine what all the implications might be. But there’s a lot of different scenarios we could go down. We’re not quite there yet.” That’s probably the biggest question of all.

22. Other stuff: There are lots of rumours about both CHL expansion — particularly to New England, which would be a QMJHL location — or USHL defections. MacKenzie: “There’s some real excitement in our organization and I think in probably other organizations about…what the possibilities for junior hockey in North America could look like going forward. We don’t have the answers. We don’t know exactly where it’s going to go. But I think that there’s some real opportunity here. We just have to determine what it looks like.” Sharks in the water.

23. After we interviewed Dan, Michigan State commit Savin Virk joined WHL Tri-City (and scored his first goal). That’s something else we were told to watch: NCAA and CHL joining forces in providing development routes for players. “The Americans are proud to work and partner with Michigan State in the development of Savin Virk,”  Tri-City GM Bob Tory was quoted in his team’s release. Welcome to the new world. “(The CHL and NCAA) are going to have to work together a little bit more than they currently do,” MacKenzie said.

24. The best answer from MacKenzie was when he said, “Anybody who says they know what will happen is kidding themselves.” That’s definitely true.

25. Some other fallout to keep an eye on: right now, two NCAA sports allow athletes more than 12 months after high school graduation to enrol in college. Men’s hockey and skiing allow until your 21st birthday. Hockey coaches are concerned this could be changed to align with everyone else. They aren’t excited by the idea. And, the various Canadian junior leagues are out for blood with the BCHL. 

26. Connor McDavid usually isn’t excited about personal accomplishments, so I was curious about his big smile after point number 1,000. “It wasn’t that,” he said. “It’s just a number. It was the reaction of my teammates and the fans that made it special.”

27. Pittsburgh did Lars Eller a big favour sending him to Washington. He didn’t have trade protection, but, clearly, that’s where he wished to go.

28. After Shea Theodore re-signed, a couple teams said one of the running jokes last summer was that Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon told anyone interested in the defenceman they “could buy a ticket to one of our games for the next eight years.” Theodore joked the process took longer than he wanted, but never seriously considered anywhere else. Don’t (bleep) with happy. With David Amber on Wednesday morning, we had a good conversation about how he flips from side-to-side, playing left (his strong side) that night in Toronto. We asked if there was anyone else capable of seamlessly switching as often as he does. He paused, and we noticed Zach Whitecloud shaking his head “no” in the next stall, which was pretty funny. Theodore mentioned Dallas’s Miro Heiskanen.  

29. Ran into Steve Sullivan last weekend before the Marlies played Belleville at Scotiabank Arena. Totally forgot he was an assistant coach there. One thing you can definitely tell: he’s happy. And coaching is something he wants to do.

30. Good trivia question: Erik Johnson reaching 1,000 games made the 2006 Draft the first ever where the top seven selections reached the millennium milestone. Johnson went first, followed by Jordan Staal, Jonathan Toews, Nicklas Backstrom, Phil Kessel, Derick Brassard and Kyle Okposo.

31. On Valentine’s Day, during the upcoming 4 Nations Faceoff, the NHL Alumni will honour Team Canada 1972 in Montreal. The players have agreed to attend. Another reason to see this tournament, not that we need one.

32. When I was young, I read about Karen Silkwood and remain interested in the mysterious circumstances of her death. Wanted to recommend Radioactive: The Karen Silkwood Mystery, a new podcast from ABC News. First two episodes are out.