In a move that increasingly felt inevitable, the Boston Bruins are firing head coach Jim Montgomery amid the team’s sluggish start to the season, sources tell WEEI’s Rich Keefe. Assistant coach Joe Sacco is expected to take over.


It wasn’t immediately clear when the Bruins will officially announce the move, but it is expected to happen before Thursday’s home game against Utah.



The Bruins suffered their third straight loss on Monday in a 5-1 blowout at the hands of the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, dropping them to 8-9-3 on the season. Their minus-21 goal differential is tied for second-worst in the NHL.


Montgomery had seemingly tried just about everything he could think of to try to spark this team, but none of it worked. After trying to keep fairly consistent line combinations early in the season, he had resorted to frequent juggling in recent weeks, only occasionally and temporarily finding anything that clicked.


Montgomery had made examples of team leaders like Brad Marchand (laying into him during a game in Utah after a bad turnover), David Pastrnak (benching him for the third period in a win over Seattle after a similarly bad turnover), and Charlie McAvoy (removing him from the struggling top power-play unit prior to Hampus Lindholm’s injury).


It had all the looks of a desperate coach, which is exactly what Montgomery was. He was in the final year of his contract, and many already believed he was on thin ice after nearly blowing a 3-1 series lead to Toronto in the first round back in the spring.


Historically, coaches who are in a lame-duck situation and whose teams get off to a bad start do not get a long leash. Montgomery’s may have actually been longer than most anticipated.