When Jim Montgomery first met Boston reporters at his introductory press convention as new Bruins coach again in July, there was nonetheless some fairly essential enterprise for his boss Don Sweeney to finish.
Now, with Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci again within the fold at an astoundingly low mixed cap hit of $3.5 million and Erik Haula switched out for Pavel Zacha, Montgomery’s roster is now beginning to come into focus. On Friday, the Herald had an opportunity to take a seat down with the B’s new bench boss to get a glimpse of his imaginative and prescient for a workforce coming off a 51-win season.
Not surprisingly, Montgomery is just not about to inflict wholesale adjustments on the operation, the tradition of which he deeply respects. But he does plan to place his imprint on it, nevertheless refined which will or might not be. Here are a couple of matters that had been touched upon.
• Whether it must wait till the workforce will get wholesome or not, Montgomery plans to play David Pastrnak along with his returning countryman Krejci.
“I think with the development of Jake DeBrusk last year and how well he played with Bergy and (Brad Marchand), naturally you see the other line being a fit to give us a two-headed monster in our top two lines,” mentioned Montgomery. “But we know Marchie’s not going to be there early on. So we’re going to have to do some balancing, because I do want two lines that other teams have to be aware of and fear. And I think when you have Bergy and Krejci as your top two centers, it gives you the ability no matter who your wingers are to have very dominant lines. But I think it’s natural, seeing how well (Pastrnak and Krejci) played together at the World Championships, to give that an opportunity. And we always know Pasta, Bergy and Marchy. If things aren’t working, we can put that back together and the magic comes back real well.”
• With the exception of a few European-based gamers, Montgomery has touched base with all of his new gamers. One European he has spoken to is crucial one – Pastrnak.
“It was enlightening and put a big smile on my face, because he’s so easy-going,” mentioned Montgomery. “The conversation was very fluid. He tells you what’s on the top of his brain, and it’s humorous, in the sense that he has such a joy for life that it comes right through the phone.”
The coach mentioned Pastrnak didn’t foyer to play with Krejci.
“He goes, ‘I’ve got two great centers now!’ ” mentioned Montgomery.
Pastrnak’s Boston future, in fact, continues to be cloudy. He’s bought one yr left on his contract and, whereas it’s nonetheless early within the course of, the 2 sides haven’t but agreed on what must be a really profitable extension to maintain him right here. Asked if the explosive proper wing indicated that he needs to stay a Bruin for the long-term, the brand new coach stayed in his lane.
“I don’t know if I can say that,” mentioned Montgomery with a chuckle. “What I do know is that I’ve been incredibly humbled by how many players, staff, auxiliary workers talk about how special it is to be a Bruin and how great place this is because of those players. Players want to be Boston Bruins because of the elite players who have been here that have been part of the success for a long time. It’s a special culture and I’m excited to learn and be a part of it.”
• The B’s are in an odd spot as a corporation. With the return of Bergeron and Krejci, there’s nonetheless very a lot a win-now focus. But there’s an opportunity this season may very well be it for each these venerable gamers, so there does should be an eye fixed on the long run and among the group’s younger gamers. Can each be achieved successfully?
“I think that’s part of the job now with the salary cap,” mentioned Montgomery. “You constantly have to be developing, working on skills development with players who don’t get a lot of minutes. The most important things are results and wins, we all know that. So there are certainly players who play so many minutes. They’re not the ones who need the skill development anyways. The other players have to get more touches post practice, and that’s where our assistant coaches and myself will develop a plan to help those players come along so they can start eating more seconds and minutes incrementally in a game, which will give us four lines and six d-men that can play that can have an impact and lessen the burden on our top players.”
• Montgomery is happy for a couple of gamers who is likely to be prepared to show a nook.
“Without being on the ice yet, it’s hard to tell. But through conversations about how they are thinking mentally, I think Jake DeBrusk is a player that the Bruins need, and he wants, to go from being an everyday consistent player to an everyday impactful player,” mentioned Montgomery. “I see players like Trent Frederic becoming an every-night impactful player, understanding his role. There’s eagerness in their voices to become more. I’ve heard that from guys like Mike Reilly and Derek Forbort as well, Brandon Carlo jumps off the that page. My conversations with Jeremy Swayman have been incredibly positive in my sense for how eager they are to get better as professionals.”
• He plans to have some tweaks to the defensive system, however Montgomery will stick with the zone system that has been a Bruin mainstay for a decade and half.
“It goes back to ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix anything.’ I’ve always been impressed with the Bruins D-zone since Claude Julien’s days and through to (Bruce Cassidy’s) days,” mentioned Montgomery. “They have two centermen that have done it for 15 years, minimum, and they have a third center in Charlie (Coyle) who’s been doing it a while. So we’re going to maintain that. We’re going to put in a few wrinkles that I’ve seen in studying the film and talking with assistants and Don Sweeney that we think can get us out of our zone a little quicker. But it’s basically going to be the same D-zone system.”
• Cassidy had lengthy tried to coax extra offense out of his blue-liners. Expect the defensemen to point out extra motion within the offensive zone, each towards the web and alongside the blue line to open issues up.
“You’re going to have to give them leeway to jump into holes that they see,” mentioned Montgomery. “I look at guys like a Mike Reilly or a Connor Clifton, guys that are naturally aggressive offensively. You’re going to have to live with a little bit of risk to get more reward. That might mean we give up a few more odd-man rushes. I don’t like giving up odd-man rushes and the Bruins haven’t given up a lot of them. But even a guy like Brandon Carlo, who I think with his skating and his reach can probably take a lot more opportunities getting closer to the net, moving more on the offensive blue line to make it harder to block shots.”
• Montgomery gave the breakdown of duties for his workers. New assistant John Gruden will deal with the protection and energy play. Joe Sacco will deal with the penalty kill and ahead growth whereas additionally serving as a sounding board for the B’s defensive system
“The zone system, I know how it works, but he’s lived it for a decade. So he’s someone I’m going to lean on heavily there,” mentioned Montgomery.
Chris Kelly will concentrate on faceoffs, ahead puck safety and deal with the pre-scouts. He plans to maintain all three assistants on the bench and have goalie coach Bob Essensa as the attention within the sky.
“I feel after having been an assistant, been upstairs, I saw the game the better at ice level than I did upstairs,” mentioned Montgomery. “And then when you add the emotion of it, I think that energy that someone like Chris Kelly can bring to the bench, being a positive reinforcement for the players and also lean on players he knows and won the Cup with, I think it will be a benefit to having him on the bench versus having an eye in the sky.”
• Montgomery feels communication has all the time been a powerful swimsuit of his, nevertheless it has developed even additional within the final couple of years with the life abilities he’s discovered in his day by day sobriety program in his well-chronicled battle with alcoholism.
“I think I listen a lot better than I used to,” mentioned Montgomery. “I guess I listen to learn now, whereas before I listened in order to have a response. Really digesting information. And I’m not talking so much in hockey situations but when I’m talking to people as people, understanding more of what makes them tick. That’s something that I think through the program of sobriety I’m in and the people I’m around, you become more aware of your own self and you’re also more aware of how it impacts others to show that you really do care.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com