Bruins rule out one candidate for HC job

It isn’t yet clear who the Bruins will name as their next head coach in the coming days. However, it won’t be Joe Sacco, who ended the year as interim head coach after the club fired Jim Montgomery early in the season, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on the 32 Thoughts podcast earlier this week.

“I believe Joe Sacco was told he will not stay as the head coach of the Boston Bruins,” said Friedman. He’ll likely depart the organization entirely, with the pending hire presumably having a say in their assistants.

General manager Don Sweeney said shortly after the season ended that he’d include Sacco in his list of candidates for the full-time job. It’s not particularly surprising to see him not land the gig, though. Increased goal-scoring is a stated priority for the club for next season, and it’s not something they did well under Sacco. From Nov. 21 onward, Sacco’s first game as interim head coach, Boston’s 2.81 goals per game ranked 24th in the league, and their 26.3 shots per game ranked 29th.

The Bruins also had a worse points percentage under Sacco (25-30-7, .460) than under Montgomery (8-9-3, .475). It’s worth considering Sacco’s tenure overlapped with Boston’s post-trade deadline slide, an understandable one after trading away Brandon Carlo and Brad Marchand for futures.

Nonetheless, it’s likely Sacco will pursue a high-level assistant job elsewhere. That club could be the Maple Leafs, Friedman speculated. They’re on the hunt for a new top assistant/associate coach under Craig Berube after Lane Lambert recently left the post to accept the Kraken’s head coaching job.

The Bruins and Penguins are the only two remaining teams with a head coach vacancy.